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@atamerica: The First Hi-tech Cultural Centre in the World@America doesn’t only provide info about America; it also features many great events that could be useful or entertaining to Indonesian youngsters. The place is designed for Indonesian youngsters to explore, experience, and express their interests in the U.S.PAGE C1

FEATURES

Population Growth and Food SecurityWhen a country becomes overpopulated, it is hard for that country to feed its own people, let alone has extra food to sell to other countries. This contributes to governments relying on foreign debt to save people from starving.PAGE A3

OPINION

PT DI Gets Order for 20 N-219sMinister for State Enterprises Mustafa Abubakar has encouraged PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines (Merpati) to cooperate in operating N-219 aircraft built by state-owned plane builder PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI).

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Jakarta Gears up for New Infrastructure ProjectsThe government has allocated a budget of Rp 500 trillion for the next four years ahead for infrastructure projects, and the amount is small compared to the total amount that is needed.

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The meeting was held with both figures discuss-ing humanitar-ian activities, Culture and

Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said. Gere, accompanied by his wife and son, later flew to Yogyakarta and visited the Borobudur Temple in Cen-

temple mountain, which lies be-tween two volcanoes about 40 ki-lometers northwest of Yogyakar-ta. Donning a simple gray outfit, the 61-year-old actor arrived at the ninth century Buddhist site at around 5:50 a.m. to join monks in the Pradaksina ritual, which involves walking around the top floors of the temple three times. He then requested time for med-itation at the Arupadathu floor, a sacred place for Buddhists in Borobudur.Gere then lay prone in front of the main stupa and prayed for half an hour.

The most famous visitor to Borobudur was so far Charlie Chaplin. He came to Java in 1932 and visited the famous temple. The temple was abandoned with the spread of Islam on Java island in the 14th century, but was "re-discovered" by the English Gov-ernor Raffles. Restored with the help of UNESCO in the 1970s, it is now Indonesia's most-visited tour-ist attraction, drawing about 3.8 million people last year, according to Purnomo.

The ASEAN Foundation, repre-sented by its Executive Director, Dr. Makarim Wibisono, has met with expert academics from Gad-jah Mada University in an effort to bring to fruition its initiative of es-tablishing a network of business schools between ASEAN schools and their Chinese counterparts.

During the discussion, it has been identified that there is a shifting of global economic gravity from the wealthy America to Asia, the Jakarta-based ASEAN Foun-dation said in a press statement here recently.

“To address the shifting of glob-al economic trend to Asian coun-tries, the ASEAN Foundation is

ACTOR RICHARD GERE MAKES ‘SPIRITUAL JOURNEY’ TO BOROBUDUR

A total of 440,000 foreign tourists are expected to vis-it the Borobudur Temple in Central Java in 2011. "The number of foreign tourist ar-rivals at Borobudur has been quite encouraging lately de-spite several the eruptions of Mount Merapi," said Purno-mo.

The number of tourists vis-iting Borobudur had never decreased and leading trav-el agents have now includ-ed Borobudur and Pramban-an tours in their itineraries, Purnomo said.

"We are optimistic that the number of tourists visit-ing Borobudur will rise in the coming years," he said, add-ing that “various promotions will be organized to attract foreign tourists to Borobu-dur and surrounding areas. The Masterpiece of Borobu-dur Ballet will be performed at the Borobudur temple in the near future.”

Over 400,000 Foreign Tourists to Visit Famous Temple in 2011

Vice President Bo-ediono, in his open-ing remarks officiat-ing Indonesia Creative Products Week 2011 (PPKI 2011) early this month at the Jakar-ta Convention Center (JCC), underscored the need for the coun-try to build industrial networks to support the creative industry.

“Such networks will enable the nation’s creative industry to grow in a stable and sound manner,” he said. "It is the duties of all of us, the govern-ment and business players, to systemati-cally build industrial networks which sup-port the creative in-dustry," he said.

According to Trade Ministry data, the creative economic industry exports in 2010 reached $131 billion, up from $85 billion in 2006. "The $131 bil-lion does not include those from exports in the service sector," Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said when officially kicking off the Fifth PPKI 2011. Since 2006 to 2010, the creative indus-try contribution to the gross domestic product increased from 7.4% to 7.7%. The added value of creative industry also rose from Rp157 trillion in 2006 to Rp486 trillion in 2010.

In 2008, the fashion industry contributed 3.1% to the gross domestic product (GDP) and 63.3% of the creative industry’s to-tal exports of Rp104.71 trillion.

VP Boediono:Creative IndustryVital to NationSince 2006 to 2010, the creative industry contribution to the gross domestic product increased from 7.4% to 7.7%. The added value of creative industry also rose from Rp157 trillion in 2006 to Rp486 trillion in 2010.

It is the duties of all of us, the government and business players, to systematically build industrial networks which support the creative industry,"

ASEAN-China Business School Network to be Set upseeking possibilities to set up a network of ASEAN business schools and their Chinese coun-terparts.”

This preliminary meeting to dis-cuss the initiative was held on 27 June 2011 in Gadjah Mada Uni-versity, Yogyakarta, between the ASEAN Foundation and a number of expert academics from Gadjah Mada University. The meeting was presided over by Prof. Marwan Asri, MBA, Ph.D., Dean of Facul-ty of Economics and Business of Gadjah Mada University.

The ASEAN Foundation, represented by its

Executive Director, Dr. Makarim Wibisono, has met with expert

academics from Gadjah Mada University in an

effort to bring to fruition its initiative of establishing a network of business

schools between ASEAN schools and their Chinese

counterparts.

The giant US telcom company AT$T has won an operating license for Indonesia, the US Embassy here said in its official website on Monday.

It said that on July 6, 2011, U.S. Embassy Jakarta and telecom gi-ant AT&T held a cocktail reception at the Four Seasons Hotel to celebrate AT&T`s new telecommunications li-cense - the Multimedia Service Oper-ator (MSO) - in Indonesia.

AT&T is the first foreign telecom operator to be granted such a license in Indonesia.

The U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel attended the reception and congratulated AT&T on receiving the MSO license.

AT&T Wins Operating License for Indonesia

The ASEAN Foundation Executive Director Dr. Makarim Wibisono

JAKARTA (TPP) – Visiting Hollywood

star and Golden Globe award-winner

Richard Gere last month emerged

from a meeting with President Susilo

Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta,

saying “I want to be involved in any big

humanitarian events in Indonesia.”

IATA Indonesian Chapter.“I’m happy and amazed to be

here,” Gere said at a press con-ference at Magelang’s Manohara Hotel. “It’s not just an ordinary journey for me but also a spiritu-al journey.” He added that his ar-rival at Borobudur was “karma,” a term for the force generated by a person’s actions which affects fu-ture ones. Gere said he was par-ticularly interested in coming back to make a movie about the discovery of Borobudur in 1814 by Sir Stamford Raffles. “I want to make a film about the history of this temple. I really want to do this,” he said.

President director of the Borobu-dur-Prambanan-Ratu Boko Tour-ism Park Purnomo Siswoprasetyo said Gere’s visit boosted tourism in the area. "He meditated for 20 minutes this morning at the top platform and made a 45-minute tour to admire the details of the temple's reliefs," said Purnomo.

He said Gere was “astonished” with the grandeur of the so-called

tral Java. Gere was in Indonesia on an invitation from the Culture and Tourism Ministry in its efforts to promote tourism here.

Jero said his visit was invalu-able in raising the profile of the temple, after it had to be closed off for an extended period last year due to ash from the erupting Mount Merapi nearby.

“We were looking for an inter-national figure who could relate closely to Borobudur, and that fig-ure is Richard Gere,” he said, add-ing that the actor had previously expressed an interest in visiting the monument. “He’s now become Indonesia’s informal tourism am-bassador, and he’s not being paid at all,” he added.

“This is a good start that needs to be supported by the ministries of tourism and foreign affairs. Many Hollywood films are set in Thailand and the Philippines, it’s time Indonesia's diverse land-scapes and cultural features also appear in Western movies,” says SD Darmono, the chairman of

www.vivanews.com

When a country becomes overpopulated, it is

hard for that country to feed its own people, let alone has extra food to sell to other countries.

This contributes to governments relying

on foreign debt to save people from starving.

OpinionThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011A2

Population growth puts enormous pres-sure on a country s education system and other social re-sources, and is

closely related to any dramatic de-cline in food security.

Overpopulation in Indonesia is feared to be a major source of con-cern into the next century as the country s population is expect-ed to reach 450 million by 2045 barring efforts to control popula-tion growth.

According to the National Fami-ly Planning and Population Board (BKKBN), Indonesia s population in 2011 has increased to more than 241 million. "Indonesia s population in 2011 has increased to more than 241 million," BKK-BN spokesman Sudibyo Alimoe-so said.

Based on a 2010 census, Sudibyo explained that the pop-ulation exceeded the national projection of 237.6 million with a growth rate of 1.49% per year. "It is the figure of the census in 2010 and it means that the population this year has again increased," he said.

Sudibyo added that if the pace of population growth was 1.49% per year, the figure would increase every year by about more than 3.5 million people. "Thus the popu-lation in 2010 was 237.6 million, and in 2011 it increased by 3.5 million to become more than 241 million in total," Sudibyo said.

He added that if the population growth rate is not lowered, the country`s population would rise to 450 million in 2045, meaning that one among 20 people in the world would be an Indonesian.

Sudibyo said concrete steps should be taken to reduce the

rate of population growth and to increase the population s quali-ty through various programs. "To make this happen, a grand de-sign is needed for the revitaliza-tion of national family planning program," he said.

The effects of overpopulation have been felt everywhere in In-donesia. It can be concluded that overpopulation directly affects poverty levels and also has an ef-fect on the quality of life, the en-vironment, animals and politics as well.

The effects of overpopulation can also be felt on today`s econ-omy. According to www.knowl-edgegalaxy.net, when a country becomes overpopulated, it is hard for that country to feed its own people, let alone has extra food to sell to other countries. This con-

tributes to governments relying on foreign debt to save people from starving.

Everyday, 40,000 children die due to malnutrition and relat-ed diseases and approximately 150 million children at any giv-en time in the world are suffer-ing from poor health because of food shortages. Vice President Bo-ediono said it was absolutely nec-essary for Indonesia to maintain its food security by increasing its production.

Speaking recently at a function to open the Farmers-Fishermen National Week 2011 (Penas 2011) at Kutai Kartanegara district town of Tenggarong in East Kal-imantan, the vice president said, "Self-sufficiency in rice and oth-er staple commodities should be reached and maintained because

Indonesia must be safe in food." He said Indonesia and oth-

er countries face the same chal-lenge of food security and that the country should provide enough food to meet the demand that was ever increasing at a fast rate.

According to the vice president, domestic food availability should continue to be maintained and the prices should be kept stable in order to be affordable by all peo-ple. In such a global situation, Bo-ediono said, Indonesia had to se-cure its food supply as much as possible.

"Food prices are getting more unstable and increasing more and more, and increasingly diffi-cult to anticipate. Such situations complicate all parties: producers, consumers, and the governments of developing countries alike," the

vice president said.But in an attempt to step up its

food security, Indonesia will be assisted by the Dutch government in the framework of the two coun-tries cooperation.

"Food security is important is-sue especially with the prices which tend to rise," Dutch Minis-ter for International Cooperation and European Affairs Ben Knap-en said in a press conference at the national development plan-ning board (Bappenas) building here recently.

Knapen said if the food prices were not controlled, it would have a negative impact on the poor peo-ple. According to him, food securi-ty was one of several cooperation programs between Indonesia and the Netherlands, which would help Indonesia among others in food research and development.

He said the focus of cooperation this time was not as wide as that in the past, because it would be aimed at improving institutional capacity for development, climate change, and forest damage man-agement. The Dutch government has a commitment to supporting development cooperation in the form of grants amounting 53 mil-lions of euro.

Meanwhile, State Minister for National Development Planning Board/National Development Planning Board chairman Armi-da S Alisjahbana said the coop-eration between Indonesia and the Netherlands was focused on a number of important sectors. She said the important sectors were about water related climate issues, food security, governance which was focused on law, and higher education.

Armida pointed out that the Netherlands was known to have a lot of experts in water manage-ment, and therefore the country would help Indonesia develop wa-

ter management system in Jakar-ta.

Even the Asia Development Bank (ADB) has reminded devel-oping countries including Indone-sia of the importance of food resil-ience which was predicted to be a main problem following the in-creasing world`s population. "In the short term, food demand of the population may be adequate but it has always been a funda-mental issue from time to time," ADB Managing Director Rajat M Nag said in Jakarta recently.

He explained that the popula-tion growth in Asia would get high-er and therefore food productivity especially rice should be stepped up. "Food supply will sooner or later be depleted and therefore it is needful to increase productivity to anticipate food and energy scarci-ty in the future," Rajat said.

That is why ADB suggested that the government develop green-revolution-based technology and increase agriculturally-based re-searches. "It is the most important thing in the future and that the government of Indonesia should focus on agriculturally-based re-searches to develop prime seeds which are resistant to any climate and pests," he said.

Population Growth andFood SecurityBy Otniel Tamindael

"It is the most important thing in the future and that the government of Indonesia should focus on agriculturally-based researches to develop prime seeds which are resistant to any climate and pests."

According to the vice president, domestic food availability should continue to be maintained and the prices should be kept stable in order to be affordable by all people. In such a global situation, Boediono said, Indonesia had to secure its food supply as much as possible.

The NAM on the final day of its 16th Ministerial Meeting in Bali, May

2011 issued a Statement on "the Total Elimination

of Nuclear Weapons" calling for the nuclear weapon disarmament

for the sake of preserving world peace.

As the Coordinator of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) s Working Group on Disarmament, Indo-nesia has been very

active in voicing the grouping s concern about the threat of nu-clear weapon to humanity. At the General Debate of the 2008 Unit-ed Nations Disarmament Com-mission New York, in April 2008, Dr. Marty M. Natalegawa, who was at that time Indonesia s Per-manent Representative to the United Nations, on behalf of NAM, stressed that progress in nuclear disarmament and non-prolifera-tion in all its aspects is essential to the strengthening of interna-tional peace and security.

NAM again reiterated the call for the realization of a world which is free from nuclear weapons at the General Debate on All Disar-mament and International Secu-rity Agenda Items of the UN Gen-eral Assembly s First Committee on October 4, 2010.

"NAM States Parties to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) com-mend the efforts of the President of the 2010 NPT Review Confer-ence, and consider that although imperfect, `Conclusions and Rec-ommendations for Follow-on ac-

tions of the Conference represent an outcome that can be built upon and further enhanced in the near future, to realize a world free from nuclear weapons," Hasan Kleib, Indonesian Permanent Represen-tative to the United Nations, said on behalf of NAM at the UN meet-ing last year.

NAM underlined that the total elimination of nuclear weapons was the only absolute guarantee against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. "The Movement emphasizes the necessity to start negotiations, as soon as possible, in the Conference on Disarma-ment on a phased program for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons with a specified frame-work of time, including a Nucle-ar Weapons Convention. The aim should be the complete elimina-tion of nuclear weapons by 2025," the Indonesian diplomat said.

The NAM on the final day of its 16th Ministerial Meeting in Bali, May 2011 issued a Statement on "the Total Elimination of Nucle-ar Weapons" calling for the nucle-ar weapon disarmament for the sake of preserving world peace. The NAM ministers attending the Bali meeting reiterated their deep concern over the nuclear weapons threat to humanity, and there-fore, the total banning of nuclear weapons in the world was a pri-

ority of NAM. The Movement also intended to organize a summit to identify ways and facilities to abol-ish nuclear weapons as early as possible.

"The Ministers, in the frame-work of the 50th Anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement, de-clared their firm commitment to work for convening a high level international conference to iden-tify ways and means of eliminat-ing nuclear weapons at the earli-er possible date, with the objective of an agreement on a phased pro-gram for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons with a speci-fied framework of time, to prohib-it their development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer, use of threat of use, and to provide for their destruction," the NAM statement stated.

The Movement of Non-Aligned Countries was founded at the First Summit Conference of Bel-grade, on September 1-6, 1961. The Conference was attended by 25 countries: Afghanistan, Alge-ria, Yemen, Myanmar, Cambodia, Srilanka, Congo, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Saudi Ara-bia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tuni-sia, and Yugoslavia.

Indonesia itself has been com-mitted to realizing a nuclear-free world. Foreign Affairs Minister

announced the country s pledge to ratify Comprehensive Nucle-ar Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), at the opening of the 2010 Review Con-ference of the Parties to the Trea-ty on the Non-Proliferation of Nu-clear Weapons (NPT), in New York, on May 3, 2010.

Minister Marty Natalegawa at-tended the conference in two ca-pacities, namely as representa-tive of the Indonesian government and on behalf of the 120-mem-ber NAM that are party to NPT. Indonesia s step is expected to generate a domino effect, inspir-ing the eight countries which have not yet shown their intention to ratify the Treaty.

CTBT bans all nuclear explo-sions in all environments, for mil-itary or civilian purposes. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 Septem-ber 1996 but it has not entered into force. Indonesia s declaration means CTBT needs only eight more ratifications - China, Egypt, the Democratic People s Republic of Korea (DPRK), India, Iran, Isra-el, Pakistan and the United States - before it can enter into force. Of the eight countries, China, Egypt, North Korea, India, Iran and Pak-istan are members of NAM.

The NPT (Nuclear Non-Prolif-eration Treaty), which came into force in 1970, is one of the United

Nations main set of rules regard-ing nuclear disarmament and the prevention of proliferation. A to-tal of 190 states are party to the treaty, but some nations that are known or believed to possess nu-clear weapons have not endorsed it.

When a delegation of the Indo-nesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) s Commission I led by Muhammad Najib, at the Secre-tariat of Preparatory Commission Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna, last May 2011, CTBTO Executive Secretary Tibor Toth called on Indonesia to help invite other NAM member countries to also ratify the CTBT.

In the CTBT context, Indonesia s ratification would add visibility to global efforts to bring the treaty into force. It could also help create positive momentum in the Unit-ed States and underline the need for public debate in the remaining states, particularly in China and among the NAM.

A ratification announcement by Indonesia would demonstrate goodwill and commitment of a leading NAM country to both non-proliferation and disarmament, and strengthen the NAM`s hand in pressing for more progressive language on disarmament in the final document.

RI, NAM and Nuclear Weapons ThreatBy Fardah The NPT (Nuclear Non-

Proliferation Treaty), which came into force in 1970, is one of the United Nations` main set of rules regarding nuclear disarmament and the prevention of proliferation. A total of 190 states are party to the treaty, but some nations that are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons have not endorsed it.

The President PostOFFICEMenara Batavia 25th Fl. Jl. K.H. Mas Mansyur Kav. 126Jakarta 10220, IndonesiaPhone : (021) 572 7337Fax : (021) 572 7338Email : ceo@thepresidentpost.comWeb : www.thepresidentpost.com

PUBLISHED BYPT Sarana Pratama Pengembangan Kota

CEO & EDITOR IN CHIEFAli Basyah Suryo

CONTRIBUTORSAtmono SuryoCyrillus Harinowo HadiwerdoyoThomas W. ShreveJeannifer Filly SumaykuEka Putri

EDITORIAL & CIRCULATION DEPARTMENTSrimay Noviani

LAYOUT & DESIGNMohamad Akmal

SALES & MARKETINGDetia Rais (Head)Erni Imansyah

PHOTOGRAPHERNandi Nanti

www.indonews.org

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com July 12, 2011 A3

The World

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Global recovery con-tinued during the year 2010 into ear-ly 2011. As was ex-pected, however, it would not be a

strong recovery. Various risks fac-tors are still muddling the eco-nomic and business environment. The impression is that the global economy is not out of the woods yet, at least not during the cur-rent year.

The down-side risks are the still lingering post-crisis difficulties in high-income countries. World currencies situation are also mov-ing at slippery paths with the re-sult that there is the notion that the biggest issue seems to revolve around the issue of finance (debt problems) and currency volatili-ties.

A positive point to note, howev-er, is that the global recovery has broadened to include more coun-tries, especially developing coun-tries. More private sector compa-nies are coming up and there are more components of aggregate demand. Trade and investment is gradually replacing fiscal and

monetary stimulus as the princi-pal drivers of economic growth. In addition, confidence is on the rise. This could add further buoyancy to private sector activities.

It is estimated that global re-covery is taking place at different speeds across countries and re-gions. Overall growth will be 3.2% in 2011 compared to 3.8% in 2010, before picking up again to 3.6% in 2012 and 2013. Net exports will grow from 2.6% in 2011 to 3.2% in 2012. Fixed investment from 1.4% in 2011 to 1.7% in 2012. Private consumption as a contributor of growth will also increase but not government consumption.

MULTIPOLAR WORLDWhen the world crisis of 2008-

09 is over the question is: where would the global economy be heading? What kind of a global-ized world can we expect? Being part of this interdependent world Indonesia ought to know what kind of a world economic environ-ment will evolve in order to be able to adjust to the upcoming global situation.

At a meeting organized by the Paramadina Univerisity recent-ly, the World Bank launched their preliminary report entitled “Mul-tipolarity: The New Global Econ-omy.” As the report states, the world economy is in the midst of

a transformative change. This will present new challenges.

An important observation to note is that the report is intended to serve as a vehicle for stimulat-ing new thinking on anticipated structural changes in the global economic landscape.

MultipolarityThe World Bank is of the opin-

ion that the global economy is heading towards multipolarity in the global economy. This trend will bring about the following main changes:

Changing growth poles and fi-•nancial positionsChanging global corporate •landscapeMultipolarity in international •finance

These structural changes are expected to change the world eco-nomic landscape. This in turn will entail a number of implications and complexities. New thinking will be required on global, region-al and national issues.

Growth PolesChanges are already taking

place in the global economy as the advanced countries are expe-riencing lower growth rates while other countries are advancing at a fast speed. The current develop-ments indicate that the world is moving toward a multipolar eco-nomic growth. Growth will not be confined to one group of coun-tries.

As the world will be struggling to find a stable footing a num-ber of risks will remain. These risk factors include rising unem-ployment especially in the high-income countries but also in the

developing countries. Indonesia should be aware that these risk factors would also affect emerging countries.

On the positive side, it is expect-ed that in the coming one or two decades significant changes will take place in the global economy. There will be shifts in the global economic power relations, show-ing the increasing share of the de-veloping countries in the global economy.

The rise of emerging economies will, however, not only be con-fined to one region. In Asia, Chi-na has already surpassed Japan, while India, now in the 10th place is looking for bronze by 2030. Tur-key wants to be in the 10th posi-tion by 2023. Indonesia has also its ambitions. Such growth ex-pectations are spreading to Latin America (Brazil and Mexico) and also to some parts of Africa. These developments have their implica-tions on the global economic and geopolitical landscape.

A multipolar world seems to be in the making with numerous concentration of economic and business power that would en-tail the increase of competition. Indonesia must be aware that its competitive strength is still on the weak side.

In the report emphasis has been given to the fact that the world economy is in the midst of a transformative change. It further states that “One of the most visi-ble outcomes of this transforma-tion is the rise of a number of dy-namic emerging market countries to the helm of the global economy. It is likely that, by 2025, emerg-

also becoming growing partici-pants in international markets, even in the international credit and loan areas.

International FinanceAs it now stands, in addition to

the U.S. dollar the Euro has be-come an important international currency. Among emerging mar-kets China’s Yuan/Renminbi is likely to take a more important in-ternational role. The expectation is that the most likely scenario is a multicurrency system centered around the U.S. Dollar – the Euro – and the Yuan/Renmimbi.

RISING CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

From the analysis made by the World Bank and observing the de-velopments in the global economy one could come to some prelimi-nary conclusions as follows:

The world is in the process •of change. It is in the midst of a transformative change (as the report of the World Bank states). Sweeping changes are in the air which alter the glob-al economic landscape; There may be many fac-•tors which will trigger the big change. But one of the key fac-tor is the growing clout of the emerging countries; they have become a powerful force in such key areas as international pro-duction, trade and finance;This will result in a growing •global market; trade-wise and production-wise. East Asia is one of the regions which stim-ulated this big change and has become an active and forece-ful world economic player. The countries in East Asia, includ-ing Indonesia, will be in an ad-vantageous position in the new

setting of rising opportunities but also increasing challenges.

Although the global economy may be transformed into a mul-tipolar world, it is of strategic im-portance for East Asia to strife and gain the position as the main pil-lar and epicenter of an expanding global economy. This will be to the benefit of East Asia and the coun-tries in the region and also for the sustainable growth and stability of the global economy.

The ASEAN+3 formation (ASE-AN 10 plus China, Japan and South Korea) should continue with their plans to strengthen the “inner group” and to speed up the East Asia Summit process with the aim to develop the great-er “East Asia Economic Commu-nity” concept. They have to race against time as other polars will come up in a multipolar world.

INDONESIA The time has come for Indone-

sia to take full advantage of its present good international/ex-ternal economic position and pro-ceed along the following lines:

With the changes taking place •in the global economy (to be-come a multipolar economy) it is important to develop the strategies to take advantage of the changing global economic structure; Strengthen its position in the •Inter-ASEAN and ASEAN+3 arrangement with the objec-tive to consolidate the common goals and prepare for the estab-lishment of an “East Asia Eco-nomic Community” as early as opossible.

The writer is former ambassador to the EU

The Multipolar World: An Economic Overview ing economies – such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and the Russian Federation – will be ma-jor contributors to global growth, alongside the advanced econo-mies”

It is quite an extraordinary as-sessment that the World Bank made about Indonesia. The perti-nent question now is: will Indone-sia be able to make it? There will be different opinions on this mat-ter, positive and negative ones. But one thing seems to be clear: Indonesia will have the opportu-nity to be “at the helm of the glob-al economic order, but it has to put its domestic political-econom-ic situation in order”.

The Global Corporate Landscape

A trend which was not expect-ed before is the possible change in the global corporate landscape. The shifts in economic and finan-cial power has its important im-plications for the global corporate environment. In Asia it was Japan and the Asian tigers (South Ko-rea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Sin-gapore) which opened the doors for Asia to enter the corporate are-na. This is now followed by China, India and Malaysia. Asian Trans-national companies and Asian brands are actively penetrating in the global corporate world.

Other countries in Latin Amer-ica such as Brazil and Mexico, Russia and the Middle East (Unit-ed Arab Emirates) are also consid-ered to be fast-movers. Corporate players based in emerging mar-kets are changing the landscape of global investment, production and trade. According to the World Bank, they have become an im-portant force behind new foreign direct investment (FDI). They are

Although the global economy may be transformed into a multipolar world, it is of strategic importance for East Asia to strife and gain the position as the main pillar and epicenter of an expanding global economy. This will be to the benefit of East Asia and the countries in the region and also for the sustainable growth and stability of the global economy.

By Atmono Suryo

ASEANThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011A4

Asia is becoming an entirely different political-economic landscape than some decades ago. It is expected by the world community that Asia will become one of the key drivers of the global economy.

By Atmono Suryo

When observing the develop-ments in Asia since the end of the Cold War, one can only be

amazed at the fact that this gi-ant region (especially East Asia) is presently rising at a considerable speed. As a result thereof, Asia is becoming an entirely different po-litical-economic landscape than some decades ago. It is expected by the world community that Asia will become one of the key drivers of the global economy.

The economy of Asia in its total-ity covers some 46 different states comprising more than four billion people (60% of the world popula-tion). Wealth is mostly concentrat-ed in the Eastern part of Asia, be-ing known as the fast moving East Asia, a region known as one that was able to overcome with suc-cess the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 and the current world re-cession of 2008-09.

In terms of GDP, China, fol-lowed by Japan, India, South Ko-rea and Indonesia, are the larg-est economies in East Asia. The two fastest growing major econo-mies in the world are China and India. Indonesia is often rated as the third country after China and India. East Asia, including South-east Asian countries grouped un-der ASEAN, generally rely on trade, manufacturing and com-modities for growth.

According to the World Bank, thanks to China’s strong recovery, real GDP growth in developing East Asia reached 8.7% in 2010, after slowing to 7.0% in 2009. The region is expected to be able to grow robustly. Total population in East Asia amounts to 1.9 billion (almost half of total Asia’s four bil-lion people), which includes Chi-na, Japan, India, South Korea and ASEAN 10 (the ten countries of ASEAN) ASEAN-CHINA

In entering the new century, Asia (including China and the ten ASEAN countries) has made big strides. There are quite a num-ber of factors which are driving them. One key factor is the emer-gence of giant China on the Asian scene. By the mid-1990s China has emerged as a strong econom-ic power. It is now the second larg-est after the United States.

One important development to note is that it was 20 years ago when ASEAN and China opened a new chapter in their relations. In 1991 the foundation was laid to foster mutual understanding and friendship and to explore, ex-amine and initiate possible paths towards strengthening relations between the two parties. ASEAN-China connection will undoubt-edly be one of the key drivers of change in East Asia’s region’s eco-nomic landscape.

Trade and EconomicsIn the area of trade and eco-

Asean and Rising Asia

Figure 1. TRADE & ECONOMIC AREA

2002 2004 2007 2009

Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Coopertaion to establish the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA)

Agreement on Agreement on Trade in Goods & Dispute Settlement Mechanism

Agreement on Trade in Services (2007)

ASEAN-China Investment Agreement (2009)

Source: ASEAN Foundation

Figure 2. CHINA'S as ASEAN'S LARGEST TRADING PARTNER: 11.6% OF ASEAN'S TOTAL TRADE

Source: ASEAN Foundation

The city of Shanghai, China. According to the World Bank, thanks to China’s strong recovery, real GDP growth in developing East Asia reached 8.7% in 2010, after slowing to 7.0% in 2009.

upward positive slope. ASEAN is presently China’s fourth largest trading partner, after the Europe-an Union, the United States and Japan. Meanwhile, China has since last year become ASEAN’s largest trading partner.

With regard to Indonesia-China two-way trade, in 2010 it neared the $43 billion mark. The two countries are aiming at $80 bil-lion by 2015.

CHINA’S MAIN POLICIESPrime Minister Wen Jiabao’s

important policy speech made at the 20th Year Commemoration Meeting organized by ICWA on April 30, 2011 stated among oth-ers the following observations:

China has all along supported •a stronger ASEAN It firmly supports ASEAN’s •leading role in regional co-operation. The existing 10+1, 10+3 (China, Japan, South Ko-rea) and the East Asia Summit should continue to develop with ASEAN at the driver’s seatEast Asian cooperation will en-•joy sound development only if ASEAN continues to play its leading role. China supports rhe participation of the Unit-ed States, Russia, the Europe-an Union and other countries in the East Asian cooperation process Last year China became ASE-•AN’s biggest trading partner, as Indonesia has set the target of $50 billion in two-way trade by 2015In the next ten years China will •speed up the realization of land transport connectivity between China and ASEAN countriesChina to provide financial sup-•port for roadws, railways, com-munications, electricity and

nomics ASEAN-China established the following platforms of cooper-ation (Figure 1).

One will note that the agree-ments were made in stages: It started in 2002 with ACFTA (ASEAN-China Free Trade Area), which was implemented on Janu-ary 2011, causing an outcry in In-donesia on account of its negative impact. It was to be supplemented by trade in goods and dispute set-tlement mechanism. Later came trade in services in 2007 and in 2009 the investment agreement.

The ASEAN-China econom-ic arrangement forms the largest free-trade area among develop-ing countries. According to ear-lier statistics, ACTFA could be seen as an economic region with more than 1.8 billion consumers, a regional GDP of about $2 tril-lion and total trade estimated at $ 1.23 trillion.

ASEAN’s trade with China went up from $59.6 billion in 2003 to $196.9 in 2008. On account of the crisis it went down to $178,2 billion in 2009. China’s share of ASEAN trade was 4.2% in 1995 and went up to 11.3% in 2008 (Figure 2).

According to China, ASEAN-China two-way trade in 2010 ap-proached the $300 billion mark, a spectacular increase indeed. The trend is that ASEAN-China eco-nomic relations are showing an

www.chinatraveldepot.com

Figure 3. ASEAN TRADE BY SELECTED PARTNER COUNTRY/REGION, 2009

value in US$ million; share in percent

Partner country/regionValue Share to total ASEAN trade

Exports Imports Total Trade Exports Imports Total Trade

ASEAN 199,587.3 176,620.1 376,207.3 24.6 24.3 24.5

China 81,591.0 96,594.3 178,185.4 10.1 13.3 11.6

EU-25 92,990.9 78,795.0 171,785.9 11.5 10.8 11.2

Japan 78,068.6 82,795.1 160,863.7 9.6 11.4 10.5

USA 82,201.8 67,370.3 149,572.1 10.1 9.3 9.7

Republic of Korea 34,292.9 40,447.4 74,740.3 4.2 5.6 4.9

Australia 29,039.3 14,810.8 43,850.1 3.6 2.0 2.9

India 26,520.3 12,595.5 39,115.8 3.3 1.7 2.5

Canada 5,500.4 3,539.2 9,039.6 0.7 0.5 0.6

Russia 1,660.6 5,104.9 6,765.5 0.2 0.7 0.4

New Zealand 3,137.6 2,238.6 5,376.2 0.4 0.3 0.3

Pakistan 3,833.8 469.6 4,303.4 0.5 0.1 0.3

Total selected partner countries/regions

638,424.5 581,380.8 1,219,805.2 78.8 80.0 79.4

Others 172,064.7 144,973.3 317,038.0 21.2 20.0 20.6

Total ASEAN 810,489.2 726,354.1 1,536,843.3 100.0 100.0 100.0

Source: ASEAN Secretariat

other infrastructure develop-ment in ASEAN countriesChina to increase input into •maritime and air connectivity

These statements should be seen as commitments to be car-ried out in the area of infra-structure development. It can be stressed that Indonesia has a par-ticular interest in the area of con-nectivity and should take advan-tage of such commitments.

At the moment the trade area still presents a number of great concerns, especially in Indonesia. The large inflow of Chinese goods, at cheaper prices and better quali-ty, flooding the markets are push-ing domestic producers out of the market and causing social unrest (Figure 3).

Greater attention must there-fore be given to find solutions on how to manage trade in such a way that it will give benefits to the people in ASEAN countries, par-ticularly in Indonesia, which has the greatest number of SME’s and players in the informal sector.

Observing the recent devel-opments on China-ASEAN re-lations, one gets the impression that Indonesia and China are the core countries. In terms of size the two countries are the larg-est countries. It is in the interest of the ASEAN-China dialogue to develop the very best of relations between the two countries, to en-sure the well-functioning of the dialogue and to produce the op-timum benefits for all the stake-holders.

The writer is former Indonesian ambassador to the EU.

FDI flows from China to ASEAN

ASEAN's trade with China

2008

2009

2003

2008

2009

2.1

1.5

59.6

196.9178.2

(in billion)

Trade (in billion)

China's share of ASEAN trade1995:4.2% >>> 2008: 11.3%

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com July 12, 2011 A5

Metropolitan

“It offers a special design in buildings, the ‘lush garden’ concept,” said Artadinata Djangkar, Director of PT Ciputra Tbk.

“We planted a garden in every corner of the corridor to make it look more open, creating cross ventilation and open air corri-dor that would make occupants breathe naturally after a long day working in indoor offices,” he said.

In the first phase, two towers will be constructed out of five tow-ers with an area of 80,000 square

meters- 90,000 square meters, consisting of ± 700 units of The Cedar Condominium and ser-viced apartmentd under the man-agement of Fraser Suite. It will begin construction in early 2012 and will be ready for the market in the fourth quarter of 2011 with a price range of Rp. 20 million per square meter.

In each tower there will be ame-nities, namely Sky Garden, which features a library, café, lounge, swimming pool, spa, gym, multi-function room and barbeque area are available. It pampers occu-

pants with comfort while allowing them to enjoy a panoramic view of Jakarta.

According to Artadinata, a prime location in the heart of the CBD allows residents of Cipu-tra World 2 to undergo the walk-to-work experience because they close to the CBD Golden Triangle of Jalan Sudirman, Jalan Gatot Subroto, Rasuna Said and Jalan Mega Kuningan.

The company has entrusted its concept design to development to Singapore-based SCDA Archi-tects since the end of 2010.

Ciputra Property currently has

Ciputra World 2 Set to Grace Jakarta Landscape

Coordinating Minister for Eco-nomic Affairs Hatta Rajasa and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo have lately been busy discussing preparations for the implementa-tion of infrastructure projects in Jakarta.

They have given extra attention to the infrastructure projects after President Susilo Bambang Yud-hoyono had made a harsh criti-cism on stalled infrastructure de-velopment plans particularly in the capital city which is notorious for grave traffic jams.

"I am fed up with too many commitments, such as the com-mitment to the development of transportation in Jakarta, infra-structure in the capital city of Ja-karta. There have been tremen-dous numbers (of commitments) over the past 10 years, but they are all just empty talks, no con-crete implementation. Similar condition might apply in the re-gions. Stop doing that," the pres-ident said in Bogor, West Java, re-cently.

The head of state called for for-mulation of a master plan on the acceleration and expansion of the economic development. He, how-ever, reminded that the mas-ter plan must not contain merely commitments, but focus on agree-ments on concrete projects.

He said that the government had once calculated that the country needed a number of in-frastructure projects and invest-ments amounting up to at least $200 billion to be meaningful to the country`s economy.

President Yudhoyono specifical-ly ordered Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo to immediately improve the city`s transportation management to solve chronic traffic jams. "The problem must be solved by 2020," he said in his speech at the clos-ing of the government s working meeting recently.

The transportation manage-ment is one of the three priority programs of the government. The other two are rice supply and em-ployment.

To follow up the President s in-struction, several related minis-ters and Governor Fauzi held a co-ordinating meeting to prepare the draft of a Jakarta infrastructure master plan and the implementa-tion of the projects immediately.

"As requested by the President, the master plan must be ready soon," Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said.

The government will synergize various infrastructure projects in Jakarta and its surroundings within integrated transportation contexts, according to the minis-ter. The projects will include Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), Manggarai-Soekarno Hatta Airport railway and Cikarang dry port accessible by railway. The implementation of the infrastructure projects will involve state-owned companies (BUMNs) which will invite inves-tors under joint ventures.

"The Manggarai-Soekarno Hat-ta Airport railway is expected to be realized in 2015. Hopefully, the

land acquisition problem could be solved soon," he said.

The main obstacle facing the project development is land acqui-sition. To deal with the problem, the government has allocated Rp 450 billion for the acquisition of land needed to build the Mangg-arai-Soekarno Hatta airport rail-way.

"The funds are available in the transportation ministry," Coor-dinating Minister for Econom-ic Affairs Hatta Rajasa said, add-ing that he has instructed that the plan for the railway project be completed immediately. "We ask for the immediate completion, then the design and land acqui-sition should be dealt with in the near future," the minister said.

To help support the develop-ment of infrastructure projects, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo hoped that the Bill on Land Acqui-sition for Public Interests could be passed into law. "Regarding land acquisition, we have not reached

Jakarta Gears up for New Infrastructure Projects

PT Ciputra Property Tbk has launched a new project, Ciputra World 2, in an area

covering 3.1 hectares, comprising 40 floors of luxury apartments in the Central Business

District (CBD) Kuningan, Jakarta.

a deal yet, but we have prepared the route alignment," Fauzi Bowo said. The train could take the Bukit Duri and Pluit routes, he added.

According to State Minister of State Enterprises (BUMN) Mus-tafa Abubakar, the construction of the railway connecting Mangg-arai railway station and Soekar-no-Hatta International Airport is estimated to cost around Rp 2.27 trillion.

"Rp 2 trillion will come from the State Budget," Mustafa Abub-kar said, adding that the devel-opment of the airport railway via Tangerang will be given priori-ty because the cost was cheap-er. "However, the airport railway through Pluit will also be built lat-er, so that the airport rail network will become a circle," he said.

Coordinating Minister Hatta Rajasa earlier said the connectiv-ity among infrastructure develop-ment-based regions is the key to step up economic growth. "Rap-

id economic growth must be sup-ported by infrastructure, and the key is connectivity. Inadequate in-frastructure could cause heat-ed economy and the demand re-sponse will be late," Hatta said.

To accelerate the infrastructure development, the government has pledged to discard bureaucrat-ic development by revising regu-lations and speeding up the pas-sage of the law on land provision.

"We will revise (some) laws and regulations to support the infra-structure development. We realize there are many obstacles. We will improve the agrarian system, de-crease the land price risks, land freezing, and it is expected to be completed this year for the sake of justice concerning land," he said.

According to Hatta, the govern-ment has allocated a budget of Rp 500 trillion for the next four years ahead for infrastructure projects, and the amount is small com-pared to the total amount that is needed. (Antara)

The government has allocated a budget of Rp 500 trillion for the next four years ahead for infrastructure projects, and the amount is small compared to the total amount that is needed.Hatta RajasaCoordinating Minister forEconomic Affairs

five projects that operate with excellent results, namely Cipu-tra Mall Jakarta, Ciputra Ho-tel Jakarta, Ciputra Mall Sema-rang, Ciputra Hotel Semarang and Somerset Grand Citra Apart-ment.

It is also developing Ciputra World Jakarta, a superblock built on an area of 5,5 hectares at Prof. Dr. Satrio street which consists of shopping mall, the 174 room-Raffles Hotel, 136 units myHome condominium, 64.000 sqm of Grade-A office building, 170 ser-vice apartments, 88 luxury Raf-

fles Residence apartments and Ciputra Artpreneur Centre which consists of an art museum and an auditorium with a capacity to ac-commodate 1,200 people.

The mall will have a gross and net area of 123,000 sqm and 78,000 sqm, respectively. The super block will also comprise a 306-unit apartment, 80 luxu-ry apartments, a five-star hotel that boasts 180 rooms and an of-fice complex with a gross area of 64,000 square meters.

The construction of the base-ment areas started in 2008 but was hit by the global financial

crisis befoe it continued in 2009 with the renovation and the in-stallment of its foundation. At the moment, it has reached the sub-structure development phase, which will be continued with the construction of a podium and a tower. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

The project has already con-tributed revenue to the compa-ny. As of 2008, 64 units of My-Home apartments have been sold, and the mall is already marketed by an in-house and agency team, Jones Lang Lasalle.

The EconomyThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011A6

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The President PostT H E S P I R I T O F I N D O N E S I A

Production of Processed Wood Reaches New Height

Indonesia`s processed wood production in the first half of 2011 reached 19.6 million cu meters, compared to 11.18 million cu meters in the same period last year.

The increase suggested that the forestry sector still recorded convincing growth amidst the global economic slowdown, Forestry Minister Zukifli Hasan

said here last week,Data from the Forestry Ministry show the processed wood produc-

tion in the first semester of 2011 was still dominated by pulp with 13.5 million cu meters, followed by chip 3.8 cu meters.

Plywood which served as main export commodity in the past reached 1.36 million cu meters in the January-June 2011 period, Secre-tary General of the Forestry Ministry Hadi Daryanto said. Sawn timber production in the first half of 2011 reached 373.33 thousand cu meters, followed by veneer 346.12 thousand cu meters.

Govt to Eradicate Poverty in Fishery Ports

The government has set itself the target of eradicating poverty among fishermen living around 816 fishery ports (PPI) in the country.

"There are 816 PPIs in poor fishermen`s villages which are the target of the program," Maritime and Fisheries Affairs Minister Fadel Muhammad said here last week.

Based on data on poor fishermen in coastal areas and PPI collected from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the implementation of the program is divided into four stages, the minister said.

In the first and second stages, the target is aimed improving the wel-fare of fishermen in 100 PPIs in 2011 and 400 PPIs in 2012. A total of Rp127.82 billion will be allocated for them in 2011 and Rp1.71 trillion in 2012. In the third and fourth stages, the programs would launched in 200 PPIs in 2013 and 116 PPIs in 2014.

The minister said that the four strategies must be carried out to erad-icate the poverty of about 7.8 million people living the coastal areas.

New Gas Reserves Found in Jambi

New oil, gas and coal reserves have been found in the district of Tebo, in Muaro Sekalo village, Sumay sub-district, Jambi province, Tebo district head Majdi Muaz said.

"The village sits on large deposits of oil, gas and coals. Studies are now conducted to know the amount of the oil, gas and coal deposit," the Tebo district head said here recently.

He said that his office and the energy and mineral resources services of Jambi are planing a research program on the content of the deposits there.

Madjid said the deposits had important meaning for the develop-ment of the region`s economy in the future, where at present the peo-ple of Tebo relied on the plantation and agricultural sectors.

"Oil and gas as well as coals could be another added values for the district to develop its economy. We have to find credible and trusted investors to tap the natural resources," he said.

Industrial Exports to Grow 8.3%

Indonesia`s industrial product exports are projected to grow by 8.3 percent in each of the next five years to reach $134 billion in 2015, an official said.

"Exports can grow at a faster pace thanks to rising investment in the manufacturing sector which will eventually boost the volume and types of export products," Director General of International Industrial Coop-eration at the Industry Ministry Agus Tjahajana said here last week.

In the year to April industrial product exports rose by 35% to $38.7 billion from a year earlier. The figure was expected to increase to $98 billion at the end of this year, he said.

He said Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Japan, South Ko-rea, the United States and Australia would be potential markets for In-donesian products.

The government, he said, would make every effort to improve infra-structure to spur exports. In addition, it would also attract investment from countries producing high-technology products.

The government has targeted the completion and operation of the Java trans toll road in 2014 supporting one of the important economic corridors on Java is-land, a deputy minister said.

"An express way in the Java northern coastal area (Pantu-ra) is one of the priorities the six economic corridors. We wish to develop the Jakarta-Surabaya route into a seamless flow," Dep-uty Transportation Minister Her-manto Dardak said after witness-ing the signing of the amendment

between PPJT and three Toll Road Business Agencies (BUJT) and the Toll Road Arrangement Agen-cy (BPJT) here last week.

The Java trans toll road will support the implementation of the Indonesian Economic Develop-ment Acceleration and Expanded Master Plan (MP3EI). Hermanto said while the government sus-tainably prioritize the Jakarta-Surabaya national corridor by im-proving four lanes, conflicts with local traffic still often happens so

Java Trans Toll Road Completed in 2014

ECONOMIC UPDATES

Govt Set to Cut Foreign DebtsThe government is making

a constant effort to reduce the amount of foreign debts to min-imize risks, a minister said.

"We will always try to make as minimum foreign loans as possible," National Develop-ment Planning Minister/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Armida S Alisjahbana said fol-lowing a meeting with visiting Dutch Minister for European Affairs and International Co-operation Ben Knapen here last week.

Armida said since 2010 the government had focused its fi-nancing priorities on ongoing activities as well as on new ac-tivities that had reached the fi-nal phase of preparation.

The foreign debts consisted of government debts totaling $128.6 billion and private debts totaling $85.9 billion.

By the end of December 2010, the foreign debts of the govern-ment and private sectors respec-tively reached $118.6 billion and $83.8 billion.

The foreign debts of the private sector in the four months through April consisted of $72.5 billion in-curred by non-bank institutions and $13.4 billion by banks.

The country s debt-to-GDP ra-tio is currently 28.2% compared to 151.2% in the 1997/1998 pe-riod, while the ratio of short-term debts to foreign exchange reserves currently stands at42.6% com-pared to 142.7% in the 1997/1998 period.

Zulkifli Hasan

She said the Dutch aid commit-ment to Indonesia today was also not as large as those in the past. "This is in line with Indonesia s wish and plan to continue to re-duce the amount of foreign loans in a concrete manner," she said.

Indonesia s foreign debts until the end of the first quarter of 2011 reached $214.5 billion, up by $10 billion compared with the same period last year.

that it was still necessary to build toll roads as an alternative.

"Therefore toll roads are not merely a business matter, but also public roads," he said. He add-ed that the Cimanggis-Cibitung stretch is playing a very strategic role to solf traffic jams in two cor-ridors, Jagorawi and Cikampek toll roads.

"Upon completion, it will con-tribute to solving traffic jams in the two corridors. Thus, from Cikampek traffic could go straight to Jagorawi without using the Ci-

Fadel Muhammad

The Java trans toll road will support

the implementation of the Indonesian

Economic Development Acceleration and

Expanded Master Plan (MP3EI).

Indonesia s rice production is estimated to rise by 2.4% this year, according to the National Statistics Agency (BPS).

"There will be an increase of 2.4 percent," the agency`s chief, Rusman Heriawan, said here last week. Rice production is estimat-ed to reach 68.06 million tons of dried unhulled rice this year up 1.59 tons from 2010, he said.

He said production would rise because of the expansion of har-vest areas by 313,150 hectares (2.36%) and a hike in produc-tivity by 0.2 quintal per hectare (0.04%). Rusman added the fig-ures were taken from forecast of production from January to April 2011 and estimates for May to De-cember 2011 made based on con-ditions of rice field areas until the end of April.

On corn and soybean, Rus-

man said the production of the two commodities was expected to drop compared to that of 2010. Corn production in 2011 is esti-mated to reach 17.39 million tons down 5.10% from last year s.

Soybean production in 2011 meanwhile is estimated to reach 819,450 tons down 9.66 percent from last year s.

The director general of food crops of the ministry of agricul-ture, Udhoro Kasih Anggoro, ad-mitted the BPS`s upward predic-tion by 2.4% did not match with his target of hike set at 5.2%.

He said production could also increase due to support from the Corporate-base Movement for In-creasing Food Production pro-gram of state-owned companies. "If the program is successful it will add 3.7 million tons of dried un-hulled rice," he said.

Rice Production to Rise 2.4%

The 2011 state budget up to May 31, 2011 re-corded a surplus of Rp 56.9 trillion because the amount of reve-

nues realized during the period was bigger than the amount of expenditure, the finance minis-ter said.

"The state budget also booked a funding surplus of Rp 120.3 tril-lion and in the first semester it is predicted to have a surplus of Rp36.8 trillion and unspent fi-nancing of Rp104.1 trillion," Fi-nance Minister Agus Martowar-dojo told a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) here last week.

He said that up to May the state

revenues totaled Rp 421.1 trillion while its expenditure amounted to Rp 364.2 trillion.

It is estimated that in the first semester revenues would reach Rp 498.3 trillion and state expen-ditures estimated at Rp 461.5 tril-lion.

The biggest state revenues were contributed by receipts from the tax sector at Rp 386.7 trillion or 45.5% of the budget target in the first semester. Up to May 31, it reached Rp 326.6 trillion.

"Receipts from the tax sector im-proved because the country`s eco-nomic conditions were supportive, high Indonesian crude prices, in-

State Budget 2011 Records Over Rp 56 t Surplus

crease by average five percent of the tobacco customs tax, harmo-nized tariff policies and relatively good crude palm oil prices in the world market," the minister said.

In the meantime, the realiza-tion of the central government spending which was believed to dominate the state expenditure was expected to reach Rp 263.3 trillion or 31% of state budget tar-get, which up to may had reached Rp 212.7 trillion.

Spending on civil servants dominated the the central government s expenditure at Rp 67.7 trillion and it is estimated to reach Rp 85.9 trillion of the target at Rp 180.8 trillion at the end of the first semester.

Spending on capital expen-diture was still seen lower at Rp 13.6 trillion, of the estimate in the first semester of Rp 20.5 tril-lion while the target was set at Rp 135.9 trillion.

The minister also mentioned that the prognosis of the state revenues in the second semester would exceed the estimate of Rp 664.1 trillion.

Agus Martowardojo

Indonesia recorded the biggest export value in histo-ry in May this year, reaching $18.33 billion, according to the National Statistics Agen-cy (BPS).

"Exports in May 2011 stood at at $18.33 billion, the highest so far," BPS chief Rusman Heriawan said here last week. He added the val-ue was higher than Decem-ber 2010`s record of $16.83 billion. Compared to the val-ue of exports in May 2010 the value of exports in May 2011 rose by 38.76%, he said.

Total export value from January to May 2011 reached $80.82 billion or rose by 33.37% compared to the same period last year. Exports of non-oil/gas mean-while reached $64.25 billion or rose by 31.31%.

The biggest hike in the non-oil/gas exports in May 2011 was recorded in the exports of fat and vegetable/animal oil, $665.8 million, while the steepest drop was suffered by rubber and rubber products at $87.2 million.

Indonesia s non-oil/gas exports to China in May 2011 were also re-ported to be the largest, reaching $1.81 billion, followed by exports to Japan at $1.53 billion and the US at $1.32 billion with contri-bution from the three reaching 32.75% while exports to the Euro-pean Union (27 countries) reached $2.02 billion.

Sectorally, exports of industrial products in the period from Jan-uary to May 2011 rose by 36.28% compared to that of 2010. Exports of agricultural products also rose 21.27%. Based on provinces of export origin Indonesia s biggest exports from January to March 2011 were from East Kalimantan worth $7.32 billion (16.13%), West Java $6.37 billion (14.04%) and East Java $4.45 billion (9.18%).

RI Records Unprecedented Export Value in May

Rusman Heriawan

The biggest state revenues were contributed by receipts from the tax sector at Rp 386.7 trillion or 45.5% of the budget target in the first semester. Up to May 31, it reached Rp 326.6 trillion.

kunir outer ring road (JORR)," he said.

BPJT chief A Ghani Ghazali said that with the signing of the amendments of the three PPJT, the PPJT amendment of only 10 of the 24 toll roads to be evaluated by the government have yet to be signed. "Only 10 are left because seven stretches have already been covered on June 7, 2011, then four stretches on June 28, 2011, and the latest three bringing the total to 14 toll roads and the remaining 10," he said.

Armida S Alisjahbana

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com July 12, 2011 A7

The Economy

The government has decid-ed to allocate Rp 18.80 tril-lion for fertilizer subsidies in the revised 2011 state budget, an increase of Rp 2.42 trillion compared with the 2011 state budget.

Under the 2011 state budget, budget allocations for fertilizer subsidies are set at Rp 16.38 trillion, according to the main data of the 2011 state budget

and the revised 2011 state bud-get at the Finance Ministry made available on Thursday.

Meanwhile, budget allocations for seed subsidies under the 2011 state budget and the revised 2011 state budget remain unchanged at Rp 120.30 trillion, and so do the budget allocations for food subsidies which reach Rp 15.27 trillion.

State Subsidizes Rp 18.80 t for Fertilizers Fertilizer subsidies are still

needed to help achieve agricultur-al production target for 2011. The government has set a 2011 target of ground dry rice grains produc-tion of 68.8 million tons, corn 22 million tons, soybean 1.01 million tons and sugar 3.87 million tons.

Earlier, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said changes in budget items would prop up a

Aceh province has received Rp 20 trillion in development funds from the central government to expand and accelerate economic development, Aceh Deputy Gover-nor Muhammad Nazar said.

The assistance was part of ef-forts to develop Indonesia into the world`s seventh largest economy, he said here on Sunday.

He said the aid had been put in the plan for the expansion and ac-celeration of Indonesia s economic development until 2045.

"Of the total, Rp 3.5 trillion has been used to build a hydro power plant in Peusangan, Central Aceh district. The project is scheduled for completion in 2015," he said.

He added the funds would also be used to build an internation-al port at Krueng Geukuh, North Aceh district, a Lampulo port in Banda Aceh, and Idi port, East Aceh district, as well as to finance a development project in the

Aceh Gets Rp 20 tfor Economic Growth

province s western coast."God willing, the development

projects will be started next year," he said.He added the aid would also be used to build a rubber fac-tory, palm oil industry and the ag-ricultural sectors.

Aceh is set become an agro province and be able to speed up its economic growth in 2014 and 2015, he said. He expressed his belief that Aceh endowed with fer-tile land and water sources would contribute to the Indonesian eco-nomic growth outside the oil and gas sector.

Aceh is set become an agro province and be able to speed up its economic growth in 2014 and 2015

budget deficit. He said a deficit in the draft revised 2011 state bud-get would reach 2.1% of the gross domestic product compared to 1.8% in the 2011 state budget.

"I think the deficit in the re-vised 2011 state budget will reach 2%. So if it misses the target of 2% there will be a range of plus and minus 0.1%, namely 1.9-2.1%," he said.

INFRASTRUCTURE GROWTH: Coordinating Minister for Economics Hatta Rajasa said that in 2010, the budget for infrastructure was less than Rp100 trillion, but this year it has exceeded Rp100 trillion, including budget allocation for power plant construction. The government has asked the private sector and state firms to help with infrastructure development in the form of Public Private Partnership, which is expected to reach Rp3.500 trillion until 2014, excluding the state budget.The President Post/Nandi Nanti

Chinese state-owned company Dafeng Port Group plans to set up a ferronickel industry in Kotaba-ru, South Kalimantan with a pro-duction capacity of 200 million metric tons a year.

The president director of Dafeng Port Group Co. Ltd., Ni Xiangrong, said here on Saturday the Dafeng Port Group Co. Ltd. has success-fully developed an integrated eco-nomic zone in China and plans to build a ferronickel industry and

its support industries in Kotaba-ru.

"Kotabaru is chosen because it is relatively conducive and rich of natural resources and has quite good infrastructure," he said.

Besides a ferronickel industry Dafeng Port Croup Co.Ltd. also plans to build a coal-powered electricity plant with a capacity of 150 megawatt. The company also plans to build a vocational school

Kalimantan to Have Ferronickel Industry

to prepare skilled workers, work-shops and other supporting in-dustries.

"At the initial stage Dafeng Port Co. Ltd. will invest around $240 billion," he said.

He said Dafeng Group would cooperate with local partner PT Sebuku Iron Lateritic Ores (SILO) with regard to nickel raw materi-als and coal fuel supply and other supporting facilities.

The government announced on Thursday two tender winners of a coal bed methane (CBM) gas proj-ect with a first-three year invest-ment of $20.34 million.

Director General for Oil and Gas of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Evi-ta Legowo said on Thursday that Ephindo Energy Private Limited was the winner for Melak Mend-ung I gas block.

"In the meantime, Deep Indus-tries Limited-Moner Ispat & En-ergy Limited consortium won the Melak Mendung III gas block ten-der," the director general said.

She said that the $20.34 mil-lion investment would cover two studies of geology and geophysics worth $1.1 million and the drilling

of 14 wells worth $9.55 million.Besides, investment on 11 ex-

ploration wells valued at $8.68 million and first phase pilot proj-ects consisting of 11 dewatering and 11 production test worth $1 million.

"The government will receive a

Govt Names Two Winners of CBM Block Tender

direct signature bonus of $3.26 million," Evita said, adding that the signing of the contracts for the two CBM projects would be done on July 25, 2011.

During a regular auction on the CBM projects that proceeded from January 10, 2001 to May 9, 2011, the government put seven blocks on tender, namely Kampar I, Kampar II, Palalawan I, Palala-wan II, Melak Mendung I, Melak Mendung II, and Melak Mendung III.

Of the 18 offered document purchased by investors, only four firms were interested in three blocks, namely Melak Mendung I, Melak Mendung II, and Melak Mendung III.

"After evaluation, only two in-vestors were declared winners. The bidder for Mendung II did not meet the administrative require-ments," Evita said.

Up to now the government has signed 32 CBM block contracts worth $213.37 million and signa-ture bonuses valued at $41.8 mil-lion.

Up to now the government has signed 32 CBM

block contracts worth $213.37 million and signature bonuses

valued at $41.8 million.

Evita Legowo

Of the 18 offered document purchased by investors, only four firms were interested in three blocks, namely Melak Mendung I, Melak Mendung II, and Melak Mendung III.

RI Set to Become E. Asia Auto Parts Base

The inceasingly bright growth prospects of Indonesia`s automotive market are boosting the government`s belief that the country can eventually become a car parts industry base for East Asia, chief economic minister Hatta Rajasa said.

"If we consistently consider the idea that Indonesia is an ideal place for automotive companies to base their car parts industries in, and continue to maintain our automo-tive market growth, it is not impossible that in the not too distant future our automotive industry will become the biggest not only in Southeast Asia but East Asia," the coordinat-ing minister for economic affairs said here on Friday.

He made the statement in his address opening the 19th Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) 2011.

But Indonesia could become a strong au-tomotive parts industry base in the world and maintain its bargaining position as such only if it could forge a good connectivity be-tween automotive and infrastructure indus-tries, heighten efficiency at production levels and ensure the continuity of industrial feed stock supply lines, he said.

Pertamina to Spend Rp 37 t on New Energy

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina has set aside Rp 37 trillion in funds to find new energy sources to anticipate a depletion of supplies from the existing energy sources in 10-15 years time.

Pertamina still import oil and gas to meet domestic energy needs, Pertamina Vice President for Corporate Communication Mochammad Harun said here last week.

"To meet the energy needs while at the same time curbing imports there must be exploration. That is why Pertamina contin-ues to find new energy sources. This year we will spend an estimated Rp 37 trillion on the activity," he said. A great chunk of the invest-ment would go to the upstream oil and gas sector, he said.

Pertamina had so far got oil sources from new oil fields in a number of areas including acquiring oil fields from oil companies whose contract of work had expired, he said.

To date, the country`s crude oil output stood at 1.2 million barrels per day while its oil consumption reached 3.5 million barrels per day, he said. "So it is not true that Indone-sia is rich in oil. We must find new sources or spend money on importing oil," he said.

BI: Capital InflowsStill High

Bank Indonesia (the central bank/BI) has predicted that the risk of capital inflows will remain high and can threaten financial system stability if a sudden reversal of `hot money in state debt securities cannot be curbed.

The high access to global liquidity funds had raised the prospect of capital inflows to emerging markets including Indonesia, Bank Indonesia spokesman Difi A Johansyah said here last week.

"Capital inflows to Indonesia remain high thanks to strong domestic economic fun-damentals and interesting yields," he said. Strong capital inflows to Indonesia would continue, the more so because the country was one step away from investment grade, he added.

Difi said the strong capital inflows were reflected by foreign holding of state debt securities which reached an estimated Rp 242 trillion or 33.8% of the overall state debt securities issued.

Meanwhile, foreign investment put in Bank Indonesia Certificates (SBI) at the cen-tral bank reached Rp 60.3 trillion or 33% of the overall SBI amounting to Rp 189 trillion.

Around JababekaThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011A8

French Company CMA-CGMHeaps Praise on Cikarang Dry Port

Cikarang Dry Port is a one-stop service for cargo handling and logistics solution for international export and import as well

as domestic distribution. It provides integrated port and

logistics services with dozens of logistics and supply chain play-ers, such as exporters, import-ers, carriers, terminal operators,

The seven Indonesian fe-male sculptors that take part in the exhibition at The Pres-ident Lounge of Menara Bat-avia, Jakarta are prominent artists in Indonesia's contem-porary visual art scene. They are Dolorosa Sinaga, Irian-tine Karnaya, Edith Ratna, Ti-tarubi, Graziella Sara Renjani, Iness and Yani Mariani Sas-tranegara. They emerge when gender remains a big issue but at the same time demand for contemporary art works is ris-ing.

As often experienced by fe-males in other parts of the world, female artists are of-ten faced with situations that are not meditative. The repre-sentations of the females’ per-spectives are not as smooth as communication channels tend to spread only the aspirations of the male counterparts—this is the bitter reality faced by women artists. We know many female artists with potential, but only a few have been given recognitions. This is because the paradigm of fine arts is al-ways based on observations on the developments executed by male artists.

7 Prominent Sculptors in The President Lounge of Menara Batavia, Jakarta

ON NOTIONS AND EMOTIONS

phenomenon that has logic in it-self (inner logic). But, of course it is not as simple as that. Problem of life, the struggle for life, com-passion associated with human-itarian issues, for instance, in-cluding the inner logic and ideas that inspired a series of an artist's works. But, in expressing ideas, selecting materials and the style they adopt, artists purely depend on the "hand" and "feelings" (emo-tion).

We often ignore this hand fac-tor. Notions and Emotions in-cludes the hands to make dictum: making is thinking. Through No-tions and Emotions we learn that the process of finding ideas and expressing it in a work is actu-ally a synergizing process be-tween the mind (the notion), skills (hands) and feeling (emotion). This is conveyed by the seven sculptors through Notions and Emotions. Their works are rich with diversi-ty of ideas, techniques, media and styles.

Through this exhibition, we will learn that the world of art is not merely about beauty, but is also a matter of ideas, wisdom, stories, feelings and reasoning.

Chandra Johan is an independent curator.

CMA/CGM has received positive feedback from their customers about CDP, especially from the import side, major corporations in Cikarang Area, inbound cargos, etc.

industrial manufacturing region, that serves both as a Port of Ori-gin and Port of Destination.

It is strategically located in Ja-babeka Industrial Estate, which lies in the heart of the biggest manufacturing zone of west Java, as well as the country, home to more than 2,500 industrial com-panies, both multinationals and small and medium enterprises (SME). Approximately 200 hect-ares are allocated for the dry port which is easily accessible by high-way and railway system.

Recently, the team interviewed CMA CGM (Compagnie Maritime d’Affrètement - Compagnie Gé-nérale Maritime), one of the larg-est shipping company that opened its services at CDP. CMA CGM is the world’s third largest container shipping company and is ranked number one in France. The Group today offers a complete range of activities including shipping, han-dling facilities in port as well as lo-gistics on land. Its main objective is to offer customers all over the world a proactive, innovative ser-vice which reconciles quality and high performance with protection of the environment.

President Director of CMA CGM Indonesia, Francois–Joseph Os-sude said that CDP as an addi-tional infrastructure is the exten-sion of Tanjung Priok Port; it will solve customers’ problems in de-veloping industrial and econom-ic corridor.

He said, “it is helping us to solve the issue that all of us are fac-

Sculpture art exhibitions are quite rare here as they are mostly dominated by painting. The exhibition which presents seven Indonesian female sculptors at The President Lounge of Menara Batavia is a synergy between art and business, between artists and PT JABABEKA. In short, an exhibition one should not miss.

By Chandra Johan

ing: road congestion and terminal congestion.”

Until now, CMA CGM has re-ceived positive feedback from their customers about CDP, especially from the import side, major cor-porations in Cikarang Area, in-bound cargos, etc.

“They are looking for improve-ment of productivity and efficien-cy. Till now there are no complain, we can say that we find the team very cooperative and really willing to develop the product,” explained Francois.

According to Francois-Joseph Ossude, the growth of industri-al sector is very positive. “We can see all announcements made by the Indonesian government of all the permits for investment wheth-er they’re from China, Korea, also from Japan. So the poten-tial growth for the next 10 years is very high,” he said.

“The potential here is still enor-mous to be further developed, re-lated to import or export and with all the investment coming. As you can see throughout Jababeka in-dustrial park, the park is com-pletely full and all the new land is already totally occupied so this is very potential,” he added.

“If the dry port can also be re-sponsible for service quality, shorten the delay between pack-ing of boxws, I’m sure it will be successful. And we are willing to participate and join together with Cikarang Dry Port in order to achieve that,” he concluded.

container freight station, bonded warehouse, transportation, third party logistics (3PL), empty con-tainer depot as well as banks and other supporting facilities.

Being the extension gate of Tan-jung Priok International Port, doc-ument formalities for port clear-ance and customs clearance willl be completed in the Cikarang Dry Port. It is like bringing port to the

It is helping us to solve the issue that all of us are facing: road congestion and terminal congestion.”

Francois–Joseph OssudePresident Director of CMA-CGM Indonesia

However, we have seen the views shifting in the past few years, and this is supported by the activi-ties of various female artists who have produced serious and strong works, both in terms of perspective concept or creation techniques. Characteristics and strengths of their works result in interesting issues in the context of Indone-sian contemporary arts today. For example, in the past few decades women had only been used as ob-jects in men's art works, for their body, beauty, sensuality, identity and so forth. We forget that they also have distinctive views about themselves, about the body, about beauty, sensuality, identity and even about men, about life, about the world and beyond.

Through Notions and Emotions as the theme of this exhibition, we will see interesting expres-sions of ideas through their works as sculptors. From the theme No-tions and Emotions we find two things. First of all, the idea of No-tions here shows that the work of arts is related to ideas or thoughts behind the series of works of an artist. Or, according to Piet Hein, a Dutch thinker, art is solving the problem before people formulate it.

The work of art appears as a

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com

Display until August 12, 2011 /// N0. 26Business B

PT DI Gets Order for 20 N-219s

Telkom Wins Five IHCS 2011 Awards

State telecommunications operator PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (Telkom) has won five awards from the Indonesia Human Capital Study (IHCS) 2011 for its commitment to strengthening its employees`

togetherness and improving their performance.PT Telkom Operations Vice President for Public Relations Agina Siti

Fatimah said last week IHCS was a special means to see the extent to which a company had applied human capital system in comparison with other companies engaged in the same industries.

The awards are the Best for Human Capital Index for the category of infrastructure, utilities and transportation industry, and the Best for Employee Net Promoter Score for the category of infrastructure, utilities, and transportation industry. The others are the Best for All Criteria, the Best for CEO Commitment, and the Best for Human Capital Initiative.

Agina said the company saw its employees as an important aspect in the management of the company because of their knowledge and skill. “Attitude and other individual attributes (of human capital) inherent to each employee are highly appreciated and valuable for the company and therefore, they are managed properly,” he said.

Duta Graha to Pay Rp 15.184 bin Dividends

Private construction company Duta Graha Indah Tbk has decided to allocate 21.5% of its last year`s net profit of Rp 70.54 billion as dividends this year.

The dividend payments would reach Rp 15,184 billion, DGIK President Director Dudung Purwadi said here

last week. “The amount of 2010 dividend payments is larger than that of the previous year,” he said.

He said the cash dividend payments were part of the company`s responsibility and appreciation to shareholders.

“As a publicly-listed company, we must highly appreciate the trust given by the shareholders to us,” he said after the company`s annual general shareholders meeting.

He said part of last year`s net profit would also be earmarked for retained earning as part of the company`s step to strengthen its working capital.

As per June 20, 2011 PT Duta Graha Indah Tbk was 33.03% owned by PT Lintas Kebayoran Kota, 14.99% by Asiariver Advisors, 9.02% by PT Rezeki Segitiga Emas, 7.35% by PT Laksindo Aditama and the rest by the public.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Minister for State En-terprises Mustafa Abubakar has en-couraged PT Mer-pati Nusantara

Airlines (Merpati) to cooperate in operating N-219 aircraft built by state-owned plane builder PT Dir-gantara Indonesia (PTDI).

“Cooperation between Merpati and PT DI will become a most fa-vorable mutually beneficial syner-gy. They will soon sign a contract

for the production of 20 N-219s by PT DI for Merpati,” Minister Mus-tafa Abubakar said after a hear-ing of Commission VI of the House of Representatives in Jakarta last week.

AIRLINE INDUSTRY UPBEAT: Aviation companies see their income shrinking by about half or $4 billion to $8.5 billion, said Director General and CEO of IATA, Giovanni Bisignani. Garuda Indonesia President Director Emirsyah Satar is confident that Indonesia’s aviation industry will grow amid strong domestic market. The number of domestic passengers reaches 60 million per year.

The President Post/Nandi Nanti

On the occasion the govern-ment along with the House com-mission VI agreed to inject funds in the form of state capital par-ticipation amounting to Rp 516 billion for Merpati, while PTDI is set to get Rp 2 trillion from the 2012 state budget.

President Director of Merpa-ti Sardjono Jhony Tjitrokusu-mo said he was in need of 20 new planes for expansion of flight routes. “It was planned that Merpati will have 20 planes each with 20 seats. We notice that PT DI has the capacity to

meet our demands in 2014 and 2015,” he said.

He added the price of an N-219 will reach $4 million, so that some $80 million would be needed for 20 units. “We will seek the funds besides the Rp 516 billion that we will receive,” he said.

Earlier, Head of Structure De-sign of PT Dirgantara Indone-sa Budi Sampurno said that the N-219 will be flying in 2014. Budi also said that for the first sales in 2014 the new planes will be mar-keted locally, 97 civil planes and 57 military aircraft.

The price of an N-219 will reach $4 million

Mustafa Abubakar

Cooperation between Merpati and PT DI will become a most favorable mutually beneficial synergy. They will soon sign a contract for the production of 20 N-219s by PT DI for Merpati.”

Bank Permata will con-tinue to expand cooperation with a number of subsid-iaries of Astra Internasion-al such as United Tractors where it cooperates on fi-nancing of spare parts pro-curement and services, the bank`s director said.

“We will have similar co-operation with Honda Mo-tor and other Astra s sub-sidiaries, with a cooperation scheme like that with the United Tractors,” Retail Di-rector of Bank Permata Lau-ren Sulistiawati said here last week. He made the re-marks on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of a coop-eration with the United Trac-tors.

A total of 44.5% of Bank Permata s stake is owned by Standard Chattered Bank and 10.1% by the public.

President Director of PT Astra Internasional, who is also deputy chief commissioner of Bank Per-mata, Gunawan Geniusahardja, said the cooperation was a good start for other cooperation with other Astra s subsidiaries using the same schemes.

“United Tractors is a subsidiary of Astra which is developing rap-idly so that the cooperation is ex-pected to bring benefits to Bank Permata,” he said.

President Director of United Tractors Djoko Pranoto said this year the sales of United Tractors were estimated at between Rp 5 trillion and Rp 6 trillion in line with the country s increasing eco-nomic growth.

Called the Permata Quick Cash, the funding facility is giv-en to the clients of United Tractors in the procurement of spare parts and services of heavy equipment.

Bank Permata Expands Coop with Astra Internasional

BusinessThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011B2

A memorandum of understand-ing (MoU) on the cement factories development plan was signed by the industry ministry s Director General for Manufacturing In-dustry Base Panggah Susanto and a Chinese consortium here last week.

The Chinese consortium con-sists of Anhui Province s State Enterprise Administration and Supervision Commission Director General Xu Chong Xin, Chairman of Prosperity Group Huang Bing Jun, and Guo Wen San of Anhui Conch Cement Company LTd.

The MoU signing was witnessed by among others Industry Minis-ter Hidayat, Chairman of the In-vestment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Gita Wirjawan, and East Kalimantan Governor Awang Farouk.

Several projects included in the MoU are among other things a ce-ment factory to be built at Tan-jung, South Kalimantan, Toeti Rahajoe, the industry ministry s downstream chemical industry director, said.

The planned total investment would reach $400 million, with

INCREASING CAPACITY: The Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) will increase its capacity by half to 3 million TEUs through expansion which is expected to be completed in 2012. With the expansion, JICT will have additional stacking area of 12 hectares. There will be automatic gate to make the traffic in and out terminal more efficient.The President Post/Nandi Nanti

China is planning to construct four cement factories in Kalimantan and Papua with a total investment of $2.35 billion.

State gas firm PT Perusa-haan Gas Negara Tbk (PGAS) decided at its general share-holders meeting last week to allocate 60 percent of its last year s net profit of Rp 6.24 tril-lion as dividends.

In total, the dividend pay-ments would reach Rp 3,743 trillion, PGAS President Direc-tor Hendi Prio Santoso said fol-lowing the general sharehold-ers meeting.

He said Rp 247,244 billion of the dividends had been dis-tributed as interim dividends on January 4, 2011 at the rate of Rp10.2 per share. The re-maining cash dividends to be distributed among sharehold-ers reached Rp3.496 trillion or Rp 144.24 per share.

Meanwhile, State telecom-munication operator PT Indos-at Tbk said last week share-holders had agreed to pay a

State Firms to Pay Dividends in Trillionsan initial investment amounting to $250 million, she added.

The second factory will be con-structed at Tanah Grogot (Pas-

dividend of Rp 59.55 per share.“This means that the dividend

payout ratio is 50% in which the amount is the same as last year. The rest will be used for working capital,” Indosat President Direc-tor Harry Sasongko Tirtotjondro said here last week.

Indosat saw its net profit fall 56.8% to Rp 647.2 billion last year from Rp1,498 trillion a year earli-er. The drop was the result of de-clining profit from exchange rate, high funding burden and rising depreciation cost.

“But overall, in 2010 we record-

Semen Gresik to PayDividends Worth Rp1.82 t

State cement maker PT Semen Gresik Tbk (SMGR) has decided to allocate 50 percent of its last year s net profit of Rp 3.63 trillion as dividends.

In total, the dividend payments would reach Rp 1.82 trillion or at the rate of Rp 306 per share, PT Semen Gresik President Director Dwi Soetjipto said here last week. The dividends included interim dividends of Rp 344 billion that had been distributed to share-

holders, he said.He said Rp 1.68 trillion of the

2010 net profit would be used for reserve fund to expand the company s business, Rp 67.2 bil-lion for partnership program, and Rp 72.6 billion for environmental management.

Last year, the company post-ed a net profit of Rp 3.63 trillion, a 9.2% increase compared to Rp 3.32 trillion the year before.

Meanwhile, Semen Gresik Fi-

China to Build Four Cement Plants in RI

er), Sepinang, East Kalimantan, with a total production capaci-ty of 10,000 klinker tons per day. Its investment will reach around $600 million.

Two other cement factories will respectively be built in Pontianak, West Kalimantan Province, and Papua Proivnce, with investments amounting $600 million and $750 million.

Industry Minister MS Hidayat welcomed China s plan to build the four cement factories in In-donesia as the domestic demand for cement is expected to increase 7-10%. He estimated the cement demand in Indonesia in 2015 will reach 55 million ton, while the to-tal cement productions from the existing nine cement producers are recorded at 53 million tons. The factories are located at Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara islands.

“The cement demand in 2010 in Indonesia was 40.7 million tons while production totaled 37.8 mil-lion tons. Demand for cement in the future is expected to increase 7-10%,” he said.

The cement demand in 2010 in Indonesia was 40.7 million tons while production totaled 37.8 million tons. Demand for cement in the future is expected to increase 7-10%.”MS HidayatIndustry Minister

ed stable growth and sustain-able improvement as reflected by a 5.2% increase in operating in-come to Rp 19,796.5 billion com-pared to 2009,” he said.

He said shareholders also had agreed on a change in the company s board of directors ef-fective September 1, 2011. Curt Stefan Carlsson will take up the post of finance director replacing Peter W. Kuncewicz. Harry Sa-songko Tirtotjondro will remain at his current post as the presi-dent director.

“We are committed to giving a chance to Indonesian citizen to occupy (certain post). But dur-ing the period of transition share-holders are of the view that In-dosat must be upgraded into a world-class company. Therefore, we need world-class personnel re-cruited from all over the world. We don t want to compromise quali-ty,” he said.

nance Director Ahyanizarman said the company planned to set aside Rp 7 trillion to Rp 9 tril-lion for capital expenditures next year. The fund which would come from the company s internal cash would be used to build a new plant in 2012, he said.

“The amount of capital expen-diture for 2012 is quite spectacu-lar. The construction of the new cement plant will cost an estimat-ed Rp 3.5 trillion,” he said.

Hendi Prio SantosoPGAS President Director

Harry Sasongko TirtotjondroIndosat President Director

Shareholders had agreed on a change in the company`s board of directors effective September 1, 2011. Curt Stefan Carlsson will take up the post of finance director replacing Peter W. Kuncewicz.

Mutual Fund Business toExpand 20%: APRDI

A mutual fund businessman said the mutual fund industry in Indonesia is predicted to grow by about 15 to 20% in 2011 as the capital market in the country is experiencing positive growth.

Chairman of the Indonesian Mutual Fund Managers Asso-ciation (APRDI), Abiprayadi Riyanto told a discussion here re-cently the positive growth of the capital market would have a good impact on the mutual fund business in the future.

“It is predicted that the mutual fund business in the country will grow by about 15 to 20%,” he said, adding that the increase of that volume in a period of four months constituted an en-couraging achievement,

Data available at the APRDI, the amount of funds in the

mutual fund industry as of April 30, 2011 was recorded at Rp 153,687 trillion, or an increase of 3.08% from that in the end of 2010, which was Rp 149,099 trillion.

PT Garam Upbeat onProduction Target

State salt producer PT Garam is optimistic that it can achieve the salt production target of 635 thousand tons for 2011 thanks to favorable weather.

“If the weather is stable (throughout this year) we believe that we can achieve the production target of 635 thousand tons for this year,” PT Garam President Director Slamet Untung Irredenta said here last week.

PT Garam which is headquartered in Surabaya, capital of

East Java province, is the only state-owned company which produces and markets salt. To date, the company has 5,700 hectares of land in the districts of Sumenep, Pamekasan, and Sampang in Madura island to produce salt. PT Garam is also planning to buy salt from farmers in Madura this year.

“We plan to buy 180 thousand tons of quality I and II salt from farmers in the three districts in Madura. We intend to buy salt of quality I and II to encourage farmers in Madura to pro-duce salt of good quality,” he said.

Alkindo Plans to Offer150 million shares

Paper converting company PT Alkindo Naratama plans to conduct an initial public offering of 150 million shares next

month to repay its debts, buy land and strengthen working capital.

The shares would be offered at Rp 225 to Rp 300 each, Alkindo Naratama President Director Herwanto Sutanto said here last week.

Alkindo expected to raise Rp 33 billion to Rp 45 billion in funds from the IPO, he said. The company planned to use Rp 5 billion of the funds to repay its debts to Bank OCB NISP and Bank Danamon, Rp 11 billion to buy land for its head office and plants and the rest to strengthen working capital, he said.

Alkindo posted a net profit of Rp3.6 billion last year. “We have set the target of net profit for 2011 at Rp11 billion which will result among others from a 20 percent increase in produc-tion capacity,” he said.

Last year, the company had a production capacity of 3,000 tons which came from its two plants located at Cimareme in-dustrial complex, Padalarang, Bandung district, West Java.

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com July 12, 2011 B3

Investment

The government is con-sidering granting a tax holiday to investors in the implementation of the Master Plan for In-

donesian Economic Development and Expansion (MP3EI), a minis-ter said.

Coordinating Minister for Eco-nomic Affairs Hatta Rajasa said here last week final discussions on the idea would be done at a cabinet meeting this month.

“Just now we looked into sev-eral things related to the facili-

ty, which industries are to receive and on what criteria they could receive it,” he said after a coordi-nation meeting on the MP3EI and Tax Holiday.

The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Agus Martowar-dojo, Industry Minister MS Hi-dayat, Minister of Cooperatives, Small and Medium Businesses Syarief Hasan, Minister for Na-tional Development/Head of Na-tional Development Planning Board Armida S Alisjahbana, Transport Minister Freddy Num-

beri and head of the National Eco-nomic Committee, Chairul Tan-jung.

Hatta said industries to receive the incentive were the ones that are innovative, raw materials de-velopment-based and capable of employing many workers such as refineries and petrochemical in-dustries.

Govt Mulls TaxHoliday for InvestorsIndustries to receive the incentive were the ones that are innovative, raw materials development-based and capable of employing many workers such as refineries and petrochemical industries.

Lotte Duty Free, South Korea s top duty free shop chain, said last week that it will open its first over-seas store in Indonesia this year in an effort to expand its overseas presence.

Lotte Duty Free said in a state-ment that it has signed a deal with Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to set up a duty free shop at the airport during the second half of the year.

Indonesia s main gateway, lo-cated on the outskirts of its capi-tal of Jakarta, handles more than 10 million international passen-gers every year.

“The launch of its first overseas market will further cement its status as Asia s biggest duty free shop and pave the way for it to be-come one of the top three duty free

shops in the world by 2018,” the company said.

Starting with the Indonesian shop, Lotte Duty Free will open more overseas markets in Asia and raise overseas sales to 40 per-

cent of its total sales by 2018, it said.

Lotte Duty Free, run by Ho-tel Lotte Co, ranked sixth in the world with sales of $2 bil-lion in 2010.

Korean Duty Free Chain to Open First Overseas Outlet in RI

A number of businessmen based in Berlin, Germany, have expressed interest in in-vesting in renewable energy, tourism and trade in North Sulawesi, a provincial gov-ernment spokesman said.

“North Sulawesi Governor SH Sarundajang has signed an agreement with several Berlin investors during the former s visit to Berlin re-cently,” Christian Sumam-

pow, head of the provincial pub-lic relations department, said here last week.

Governor Sarundajang met with five German businessmen at the Pricewaterhouse Coopers AG building, in Berlin on June 28, 2011 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on renew-able energy, tourism and trade.

The meeting between Sarunda-jang and the Berlin businessmen took place following a visit of Indo-

nesian ambassador to Germany Eddy Pratomo to North Sulawesi last month.

Governor Sarundajang in his presentation on North Sulawesi`s potentials for trade and invest-ment cooperation convinced Ger-man businessmen Norbert Oef-ner, Christof Fleischmann, Dr Kristen Verbakel, Volker M. Dorn-blut and Josef Tarnadi about the good invevstment opportunities in North Sulawesi, especially in the

German Investors Eye North Sulawesienergy sector.

“Essentially, the German businessmen expressed readiness to invest in North Sulawesi, and they even de-cided to visit North Sulawesi by the end of this year,” Sum-ampow said.

The North Sulawesi gover-nor had visited Germany at the invitation of Ambassador Eddy Pratomo, the spokes-man said.

Malaysia Keen on Investing in South Lampung Plantations

The Agricultural Development Agency of Negeri Perak, Malaysia, is interested in investing in coco-nut plantations in South Lam-pung regency.

South Lampung regency ad-ministration secretary Sutono said last week that they wished to know the potential of coconut estates in the area in their visit to the region recently.

He said the Malaysian agency wished to invest in processed prod-ucts considering the very wide co-conut plantations, and therefore they have no worry about short-

ages in raw material.“Besides visiting coconut plan-

tations in South Lampung, they also visited a number of oil palm estates in the province also with investment high potentials,” he said.

Earlier, the group had inspect-ed a number of coconut estates and the products of processed coconut like fibre, coconut shell charcoal, and handicraft goods made of coconut stem.

The head of the Malaysian agri-cultural development agency Razi Manan said besides making an

inspection, they also wished to make a comparative study on the uses of the coconut trees in the area.

According to data, coco-nut estates in South Lampung covered 35,351 hectares with a production of 33,370 tons per year, while productivity reached 1,045.5 kilograms per hectare of the 57,127 farmers.

Hybrid coconut covers 2,611 hectares with a production of 1,774 tons per year, and pro-ductivity of 852 kilograms per hectares of the 2,440 farmers.

JABABEKA’S PROFIT: Jababeka named Setyono Djuandi Darmono, PT Jababeka President Director (right)and Bacelius Ruru, PT Jababeka President Commissioner, in the general meeting of shareholders. The company recorded a net profit of Rp62 billion in 2010.The President Post/Nandi Nanti

“They are under the category of innovative or renewable indus-tries although it is not specific. So it is possible for them to be includ-ed in the sectors to receive tax al-lowance as we also discussed Government Regulation Number 61 in connection with tax holiday. The criteria is oriented more on structure while the implementa-tion is tailor-made,” he said.

Finance Minister Agus Mar-towardojo said five industrial sec-tors would possibly receive the tax holiday facility. “The tax hol-iday discussion is not yet final. We still have to prepare revisions. But there are five sectors we are trying to give a priority in our tax system,” he said.

Hatta Rajasa

Pelindo III to Invest in Support of MP3EI

Seaport management company PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo III) will invest trillions of rupiah to support the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of In-donesian Economic Development (MP3EI).

“To help the government realize MP3EI, we are going to optimize the operation of Tanjung Perak Port s Jamrud terminal and Te-luk Lamongan port in Surabaya,” PT Pelindo III President Director Djarwo Suryanto here last week.

He said the effort to implement

the MP3EI in Pelindo III`s oper-taional area, especially at Jam-rud terminal, will be made by pro-curing six “Harbor Mobile Crane/

HMC” units.“The procurement of the

heavy-duty equipment is to step up loading and unload-ing activity in the port area so as to help improve the nation-al economy, especially in East Java,” he said.

“We are optimistic that by September 2011 all of HMC units will be fully operational and thus helping to increase the productivity of loading and unloading activities here,” he said.

www.dutyfreemagazine.ca

Djarwo Suryanto

PropertyThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011B4

Jakarta Condominiums in Q2 Increase by About 1.8% from Previous Period

Indonesia’s economy re-mained robust during the second quarter of 2011, with the GDP growth fig-ure forecast at 6.4% for the period. The Rupiah

further appreciated quarter-on-quarter by 1.2% against the USD to reach 8,598.

During 2Q, prices increased by 0.12%, with YoY inflation record-ed at 5.98% (still within Bank In-donesia’s target range of 5% ±1%). Year-to-date FDI realization to-taled $4,395 million, while the 9 month’s SBI rate during the quar-ter averaged at 7.36%.

CBD OFFICE Both enquiry levels and leasing

activity within the Jakarta CBD office market continued at higher levels during the second quarter. Enquiries for Grade A and B office buildings mainly came from exist-ing tenants seeking to expand or relocations to buildings with ade-quate space to meet such expan-sion. Interest in Grade C buildings was mostly for smaller require-ments of below 100 sqm, general-ly from newly established compa-nies, or relocations from outside the CBD area.

The net take-up of 89,300 sqm recorded during the second quar-ter brought the total net take-up of CBD offices for the first six months of the year to 171,800 sqm, some 78% higher than in the same period last year.

Grade A office buildings con-tinued to enjoy the highest net take-up (88% of the total) as some major tenants took physical occu-pation of premises they had com-mitted to earlier, within buildings located in the Jl. MH Thamrin area such as UOB Tower and The Plaza.

The overall CBD occupancy rate rose again in the second quarter by 2.2% to reach 89.4% as at the end of June. Newer buildings con-tinued to see improving occupan-cy during the review period. Grade A buildings experienced the high-est increment of 3.8%, followed by Grade B buildings of 1.2%, whilst in contrast, Grade C buildings saw a slight overall decrease (of 0.2%) due to high vacancy within Patra Jasa Building (following the earlier relocation of BP Migas).

Total cumulative supply of Ja-karta condominium projects in the 2nd quarter of 2011 increased by about 1.8% from that in the previous quarter to 81,797 units, with the completion of Royal Med-iterania Garden (Lavender tower) and The Park Residences. Mean-while, the completion of Menara Latumeten, City Garden and Cas-ablanca East Residence brought the total cumulative supply of low-cost condominium projects to 17,164 units

The newly launched projects during the review quarter were Sherwood Residence and Green Bay Seaview (Tower K), Plu-it Seaview in North Jakarta; The New Ambassador Suite tower of ST. Moritz and Sky Terrace in West Jakarta; Admiralty Apartment at Fatmawati in South Jakarta; En-viro Apartment Jababeka and Grand Centerpoint in Bekasi; and Serpong Greenview in Tangerang. These newly launched projects brought the total proposed supply to 41,439 units and total proposed low-cost condominium projects to 26,706 units

INDUSTRIALHaving achieved the largest

quarterly take-up in the last 5 years in 1Q 2011, the quarterly net demand during the 2nd quar-ter fell by over 40% to about 188 Ha. However, on annual basis, the quarterly net demand grew by al-most 90%. With the above activi-ties, the cumulative sales rate in-creased to 76.4%, from 74.3% in the previous quarter.

SFBs & Warehouses for lease in the review quarter also recorded a relatively strong demand. Similar to the trend of the previous quar-ters, industrial estates in Bekasi and Karawang & Purwakarta ar-eas remained as the preferred lo-

cations with almost 90% of the total transactions in the review quarter occurred in these areas, and the balance was absorbed by estates in Serang and Tangerang.

Major demand in this quarter was still dominated by foreign in-dustrialists such as Japan with several main business lines, in-cluding automotive related sec-tors. However, new supplies are expected to continue entering the market. With the no additional supply, the total cumulative sup-ply of industrial land in the Great-er Jakarta area during the review quarter remained at about 8,700 Ha.

In-line with the strong demand, the asking price of the industri-al land during the review quar-ter continued to increase. The es-timated average achieved land price in Rupiah term increased to about Rp. 878,000 psm (+9.8% QoQ). In US$ term, the aver-age price increased to $102 psm. (+11.1% QoQ).

RENTAL APARTMENTThe 2nd quarter of 2011 marks

the beginning of an upward trend in rental rates, demand and oc-cupancy for the service and pur-posely build rental apartment sub-sectors. In the condominium for lease market, there is a slight drop in occupancy due to an in-crease in supply, however with ro-bust economic climate in Indo-nesia, demand and rental rates remained strong.

On this 2nd quarter, we see a trend that most of the new de-mand generators are coming from the local business travelers and government agency, whereby ma-jority inquiries are for the service and purposely build rental apart-ment. Aggregately, foreigners still dominates this market making

up 78% in total demand for both of these two sub-sectors.

At the end of the 2nd quarter, we see an increase in the supply of the service apartment sub-sector with the newly operated service apartment in Permata Hijau. At the same time, the forecast com-pletions of the H-Tower (a mixed-use development) in Kuningan by the end of this year will also fur-ther increase the supply of the ser-vice apartment sub-sector. As for the purposely build rental apart-ment, there is no new completed project coming in this quarter.

The increase in demand for the service apartment sub-sector mostly comes from the new sup-ply of Bellezza Suite with an av-erage occupancy of 75%. Oth-er queries for this sub-sector also arise from the banking and local government body, which needed space for seminar or training pur-pose.

The purposely build rental apartment sub-sector’s demand mostly originates from the new-ly arrived expatriates to Indone-sia. These tenants include many Japanese, Koreans, some Chinese and Western workers. In both of these sub-sectors, foreigners still make up majority of the demand with 86% for the purposely build rental apartment and 73% for the service apartment.

In the condominium-for-lease sub sector, the occupancy rate ex-perienced a decline due to huge supply in the last two quarters, with a total of about 1,571 units that are still pending to hand-over, fit-out and market the units.

In terms of the supply for the purposely build rental apartment sub-sector, there is no new de-velopment coming in this quar-

ter thus total supply remained the same at 2,363 units. Within the service apartment sub-sector, we’ve included The Bellezza Suite in this quarter’s supply which makes up an additional 112 units to the total supply. This new ser-vice apartment is located in Per-mata Hijau and managed profes-sionally by Maven Hospitality, a local management company.

Another new supply comes from Aston Marina which added 30 new units of service apartments to the market consequently mak-ing the total supply to 3,889 units for the 2nd quarter of 2011. With the anticipation of the H-Tower being completed by the year end, this new mixed-use development will add an additional 153 sup-ply for the service apartment sub-sector. The new service apartment will be managed professionally by the Ascott Group.

RETAILThe annual event of Jakarta

Great Sale had encouraged ten-ants to open new outlets before the event started in mid-June 2011. Anchor/big tenants which opened new branches in existing centers included Matahari Department Store in Mal Artha Gading, Elec-tronic Solution in Pasaraya Blok M, Muji in Grand Indonesia, and Best Denki in Mal Ciputra.

Many F&B retailers have also been witnessed to open addition-al outlets, such as Burger King in Blok M Plaza, Mal Sunter, and Mal Ciputra; Yoshinoya in Pla-za Semanggi, Pondok Indah Mall and Mal Taman Anggrek; Par-adise Dynasty, Espressamente Illy, De Luca, and Monolog in Pla-za Senayan; Fashion Pasta, Sop Ikan Batam, Dapoer Prana, and Java Bean in Citiwalk Sudirman; Mad For Garlic in Grand Indo-nesia; Fish&Co, Pancious, and Seoul Korean Restaurant in Em-porium Pluit Mal; Pandan Village, Teritorri Teriyaki, Spinelli Coffe,

With conducive economic condition, developers are in pace to build new condominium projects, as indicated by more new projects being launched since 2010. With the growth of supply moving at significant rate, demand has been able to absorb the offered supply even though at a slower rate.

About Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield is the world’s largest privately-held commercial real es-tate services firm. Founded in 1917, it has 230 offices in 60 countries and more than 13,000 employees. The firm represents a diverse customer base ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. It offers a complete range of services within five primary disciplines: Transaction Services, including tenant and landlord representation in office, residential, industrial and retail real estate; Capital Markets, including property sales, investment management, investment banking, debt and equity financing; Client Solutions, including integrated real es-tate strategies for large corporations and property owners, Consulting Services, including business and real estate consulting; and Valuation & Advisory, including appraisals, highest and best use analysis, dispute resolution and litigation support, along with specialized expertise in various industry sectors. A recognized leader in global real estate research, the firm publishes a broad array of proprietary reports available on its online Knowledge Centre at www.cushmanwakefield.com.

and Fatburger in Pondok Indah Mall etc.

As of June 2011, total retail sup-ply in Jakarta stood at 3,486,900 sqm, comprising 2,365,500 sqm (67.8%) within retail centers for lease and 1,121,300 sq.m (32.2%) in strata-title retail centers.

CBD and North Jakarta con-tinue to contribute the largest portions of supply at 736,800 sqm (21.1%) and 736,600 sqm (21.1%), respectively. South and West Ja-karta follow at 658,900 sqm (18.9%) and 618,700 sqm (17.7%) of space respectively, whilst Cen-tral and East Jakarta com-prise 439,900 sqm (12.6%), and 295,900 sqm (8.5%) of the total supply.

Through to the end of 2011, a further 114,100 sqm of retail space is expected to enter the market. Almost all (96.4%) of this future supply will be centers for lease, with only 3.6% of strata-ti-tle space. Should these proposed new centers meet their completion schedules, total supply within Ja-karta will reach 3,599,800 sqm by the end of the year.

Rental rates were relatviely sta-ble during the review period. Aver-age base rentals were recorded at Rp.602,500 per sqm per month or a slight increase of 0.4% (QoQ) or 0.9% (YoY) for specialty shop units Service charges ranged between $10.00 and $14.50 per sqm per month (Rp.72,500 to Rp.130,500). The concessionary exchange rates ranged between Rp.7,000 and Rp.9,000 per $1.00.

Additional retail supply through the end of 2011 will come from 6 retail centers, namely Kunin-gan City, Ancol Beach City, Te-bet Green, Grand Paragon, Qioz+ (Kalibata City Square), and Jem-batan Senen Jaya. Most of these supply are retail centers or sup-porting retail facilities within the mixed-use developments.

The average gross rental (base rent plus service charge) within the CBD office market increased over the quarter by 0.8% to Rp 152,400 per sq.m per month. In USD terms, the average gross rental increased by 2.1% quar-ter-on-quarter to $17.73 per sqm per month. Several landlords were able to increase their base rental rate for new tenants, in line with the limited vacancy in their build-ings.

Based on building grades, Grade B and Grade A offices achieved gross rental increments of 1.5% and 1.2% quarter-on-quarter re-spectively, whilst Grade-C offices increased by 0.9%.

CONDOMINIUMSWith conducive economic con-

dition, developers are in pace to build new condominium projects, as indicated by more new projects being launched since 2010. With the growth of supply moving at significant rate, demand has been able to absorb the offered supply even though at a slower rate.

The newly launched proj-ects were still dominated in non-CBD area, especially in South, North, and West Jakarta as well as greater Jakarta such as Beka-si and Serpong area. The newly launched condominium projects in these areas were mostly lower-middle and middle segment devel-opments.

The cumulative sales rate of the existing condominium was recorded at 94.9%, remaining the same as that in the previous quarter. The number of sold units, however, increased by about 1.5% QoQ and 8.9% YoY to 77,627 sold units. About 60% of the sold units in the existing condominium were dominated by investors, especial-ly in the upper-middle segment projects, and the remaining were owner occupied, mostly in the middle and upper segment devel-opments.

The pre-sales rate of the pro-posed condominium projects stood at 62.4%, increased by 1.7% QoQ and 2.8% YoY, with the num-ber of pre-sold units of 25,871 units. Upper-middle and middle segment condominiums record-ed good pre-sales rates, at 64.7% and 62.5%, respectively.

CONDOMINIUM SUPPLY, DEMAND, SALES RATE, 2005-2011Q2

2005

96%

Units

Cum Supply

Sales Rate

94%

92%

90%

100,000

90,000

80,000

70,000

60,000

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Q2

Cum Sales Sales Rate

AutomotiveThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011B6

Mercedes-Benz’s S-Class S 350 and S 500 models are equipped with CGI technology

(Charged Gasoline Injection) en-gines. The technology is said to improve the engines’ power but are still fuel- efficient and environ-mentally-friendly.

The engine embedded in the new S-Class is in contrast with previous models of non-CGI. Thanks to direct fuel injection technology with multiple third-generation multi-injection and sparks, it is able to reduce ex-haust emissions by 24% and in-creasig performance up to 12% on

Mercedes Benz S-Class with CGI Technology Makes Debut

configured V6 and V8 engines.

The S 350 CGI model features the new V6 engine change angle from 90 degrees to 60 degrees. In addition, the 3498 cc engine is ca-pable of burst power 306 hp, up 12.5% from 227 hp and a 5.7% in-crease in torque to 370 Nm (pre-viously 350 Nm). Fuel consump-tion is 13.2 kilometers per liter (measured according to Europe-an standards).

The CGI model S 500 has a V8 engine, 4663 cc, with bi-tur-bo charging capacity, enabling it to jump-start its power up to 12% from 338 hp to 435 hp. It can also accelerates 0-100 kph in 5 sec-

The new S 350 and S 500 Mercedes-Benz models fulfill the demand for high performance luxury cars in Indonesia, which are not only powerful but also environtmentally friendly.

onds. Its fuel consumption is effi-cient at 10.8 kpl.

The Mercedes-Benz S 350 CGI is priced at Rp2,019 billion while the S500 CGI Rp2,699 billion. Both models are available in the entire network of authorized sales of Mercedes-Benz Indonesia and are produced locally. The sales target is 350 units by the end of 2011; up to now 150 units have been sold.

More than 3000 units of S-Class have been marketed in In-donesia since its first official in-troduction in 1996. It achieved the highest sales record on 2010 with a total of 464 units sold. From January till June 2011, the S-Class has mantained its dom-inance in the upper luxury car segment with 72% share of the market.

“The CGI technology fits nice-ly with the theme of IIMS 2011,”

said Rudi Borgenheimer, Presi-dent and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Indonesia.

The new S 350 and S 500 Mer-cedes-Benz models fulfill the de-mand for high performance lux-ury cars in Indonesia, which are not only powerful but also envi-rontmentally friendly.

The CGI technology fits nicely with the theme

of IIMS 2011.”Rudi Borgenheimer

President and CEO ofMercedes-Benz Indonesia

From right to left: Roland Staehler, Rudi Borgenheimer, Yuniadi Hartono, and Yahya.

Mitsubishi has taken over Daihatsu in second place while Toyota remains at the top in the Indonesian national car market.

“Demand for commercial cars is increasing and so our car sales are up,” Marketing Director of PT Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian Motors, Rizwan Alamsyah, said here on Friday. He said sales of light com-mercial cars, light trucks and big trucks have risen steeply this year

following rising price of commodities such as coal and crude palmoil.

So far commercial cars are used in operational activities of mining and plantation companies. “As the leader of commercial cars we are given an advantage by the increasing price of commodities and improving national economy,” he said.

He said Mitsubishi entered light commercial vehicles through Colt L300 and T120 SS while it entered

light truck market through Colt Diesel. In the double cabin segment Mit-

subishi comes with Strada Triton, he said. “In the passenger car segment Mitsubishi penetrates with Pajero Sport, following the release of the Da-kar variety of Pajero,” he added.

At the end of 2010 Daihatsu was ranked second with sales recorded at 118,000 units while Mitsubishi is third with 106,000 units. In the first semes-

ter of 2011 Mitsubishi booked sales of 67,000 units which was bigger than Daihatsu sales at 62,000 units, making Mitsubishi ranked second after Toyota, which still dominates with 152,000 units.

“By the end of 2011 we are targeting up to 110,000 units. But it seems the realization will be above that as sales have already reached 67,000 units in the first semester,” he said.

Mitsubishi Takes Over Daihatsu; Toyota Still Leads

The sales of Daihatsu cars in Indonesia during the first half of 2011 rose 21% to 64,951 units, compared to the same period last year with a 15.5% market share, a Daihatsu executive said.

“Xenia is still the biggest con-tributor with a share of 51% or 33,349 units,” said Marketing Di-rector of PT Astra Daihatsu Mo-tor (ADM) Amelia Tjandra here on Sunday. Daihatsu ranks second after Toyota s domestic car mar-ket in the retail sector.

Amelia said Gran Max contrib-utes 28% of total sales with 18,014 units. The next contributor is Teri-os, which is in the medium SUV market, with 16% or 10,239 units. Luxio and Sirion Daihatsu, re-spectively, posted sales amount-ing to 2,809 units and 540 units.

“Auto sales in June 2011 had already shown a recovery from that before the tsunami in Ja-pan,” she said.

According to Amelia, domestic car sales both retail and whole-sales (shipping cars to dealers) are able to penetrate the 70,000 units mark in June, up from the previous figure of 60,000 units. Ameila said that in line with that developments,Daihatsu sales tar-get this year could reach 125,000 units. “I am convinced that the

Daihatsu’s Retail Sales up 21%

target could be achieved,” she said.

She noted domestic car sales in the wholesales market last month reached 70,157 units, growing by 14.9% from May of 61,055 units,

while sales in the retail market rose 11% to 70,720 units.

Total car sales in the first half of this year increased 13% to 417,328 units, compared to that of the same period of 2010 which totaled 370,214 units.

Daihatsu ranks second after Toyota’s domestic car market in the retail sector.

Toyota s main dealer Auto 2000 sold 118 thousand cars up to the first semester of 2011.

“In June we sold 20,689 cars. The biggest sales were still on the Avanza and Innova cars,” Mar-keting Communications of Auto 2000 Cahaya Tantriani said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Auto 2000, she said, was still the Toyota dealer with the biggest sales with a contribution of 77%.

The Toyota sales up to June 2011 reached 152,000 units, up 9% compared to last year s same period.

Toyota is a domestic car mar-ket leader with a market share of 37%, and last month its sales reached 26,000 units. In the meantime, Tantri said, Auto 2000

Auto 2000 Sales Reach 118,000 Units

has opened orders for New Ki-jang Innova. This model will be launched at the Indonesian Inter-national Motor Show 2011.

Auto 2000 also opened orders for New Fortuner which will also be released by the IIMS. Auto 2000 offers trade-in of Avanza, Rush, and Yaris cars which have been used for five years, with New Innova and New Fortuner cars.

In the meantime, Marketing Director of PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM), Toyota sole agent and trade

mark holder, (ATPM) Joko Tri-sanyoto was still rather reluctant to give the details on the launch-ing of New Innova.

“Later, we will make an official statement during the launching,” he said.

This year Auto 2000 has set a sales target of 235,000 units.

“Sales are still good, although the automotive market is still feel-ing the impact of the recent tsu-nami in Japan and some other is-sues on car tax increases,” said CEO of Auto 2000 Jodjana Jody.

Auto 2000, she said, was still the Toyota dealer with the biggest sales with a contribution of 77%.

www.gustomobil.com

Crude Oil-LHS

Palm Oil-RHS

COMMODITY PRICES Mal$ permetric ton

Sumatran LightUS$/barrel

4,000

88

83

78

73

68

3,750

3,500

3,250

3,000

2,750

2,500

2,250

M$ 3,107

M$2,425

$75.17

NJ S O F Mar M Jun

2010

AugJun10

D Jan11

93

4,250

98

$95.0

103

108

113

Apr

2011

EXPORT AND IMPORTS(US$ Million)

16,000

14,000

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0NJ S O Jan

11F Apr MayMay-

102010

AugJun

*Q4 2000=100

Exports

Imports

Dec

2011

Mar

INFLATION 66 CITIES

108 General

Food

WPI

Index

105

102

99NovJ S O F Mar Apr Jun

2010

AugJun-10

D Jan11

105.4

106.7

2011

M

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com July 12, 2011 B7

Executive Highlights

GDP GROWTH (%)By QuarterYear on Year

% Index*2000=100

165

95

105

115

125

135

145

155

8

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

06

07 09

08

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

20102009200820072006

10 Q4

175

2011

Q1

Bank Indonesia has revised its 2011 growth projection upward to 6.3-6.8% from an initial 6-6.5%.

The bank is also projecting the economy to expand by 6.6% in Q3. Bank Indonesia governor Darmin Nasution said robust household consumption and the growing contribution of in-vestment would drive growth in the coming months. He also emphasized the growing role of foreign direct investment, which was projected to reach US$16.7 billion this year from US$13 bil-lion a year ago, in supporting Indonesia’s economic growth. On a sectoral basis, the gover-nor said growth would be led by transportation and communi-cations, industry, and the ser-vices sector e.g. banking, ho-tels, restaurants and general trade. The central bank is cur-rently forecasting growth of 6.4-6.9% for 2012. Darmin said the main risks to the Indonesian economy were external, in par-ticular the possibility of a sig-nificant slowdown with China’s economy and the potential con-tagion effect from the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

Bank Indonesia kept its benchmark rate at 6.75% for the fifth straight month on a moderating inflation outlook.

After hitting a 12-month low of 5.5% y-o-y in June, central bank governor Darmin Nasu-tion indicated that full year in-flation could fall to the low-end of their 2011 forecast of 4-6%, particularly if the government does not raise subsidized fuel prices this year and the supply and distribution of basic foods can be maintained. He also highlighted easing inflation pressures in emerging markets given tightening policies im-plemented by their respective monetary authorities, which in turn could help curb price pres-sures in Indonesia. The bank further stated that the current benchmark rate was appropri-ate to support economic activity and maintain monetary stabil-ity amid an excess of domestic liquidity and strong capital in-flows. Many analysts now say the overall dovish tone from Bank Indonesia indicates that it will maintain its benchmark rate at current levels for the course of the year. The bank is forecasting inflation of 3.5-5.5% in 2012.

The rupiah has been trading at a range of Rp8,500-8,600 to the dollar over the past several weeks.

In its latest policy meeting, Bank Indonesia stated there was still further room for the rupiah’s appreciation but to a relatively “limited level”, suggesting that the central bank is increasing-ly focused on managing capital inflows and limiting any signif-icant strengthening of the cur-rency over the short-term. Over the medium and long-run, an-alysts are making a strong case for the rupiah to see substan-tial appreciation. For example, a recent ANZ research report highlighted accelerating for-eign direct investment; the ac-cumulation of foreign reserves at a record pace of nearly US$5 billion per month over the past five months; and a key struc-tural change in the Indonesian economy in which locals who have normally lacked faith in their own currency have, for the first time in six years, become a net buyer of local assets and are slowly repatriating their off-shore holdings.

Economics Coordinating Minister Hatta Rajasa said substantial progress was being made in implementing the government’s economic acceleration master plan (MP3EI).

He said development of 69 large-scale projects have or would start this year. These include a Rp5 trillion fertilizer plant in East Ka-limantan, the Rp4 trillion expan-sion of Batu Ampar port in Batam, the Rp2.9 trillion, 2x100 MW coal-fired power plant in Banjar Sari, South Sumatra, the Rp1.5 tril-lion expansion of Belawan port in North Sumatra and a new Rp1 trillion LNG terminal in South Sumatra. He asserted more than 100 other infrastructure projects worth a total of Rp700 trillion would also begin development over the next three years. Hatta said he also recently secured support for the MP3EI from China, which has set up a working group to ex-ploit investment opportunities un-der the master plan; South Korea, which is eying Indonesia as a ma-jor manufacturing base for its conglomerates like Posco, Sam-sung and LG; and France, which is looking at investment opportu-nities in renewable energy. On the MP3EI’s regulatory side, the min-ister said his current focus was to get quick passage of a land clear-ance law, now under deliberation in parliament; and finalize regu-lations to expand tax holidays to cover a wider range of sectors in-cluding renewable energy and ba-sis metals.

State power utility PLN has appointed Barclays Capital, Citi, HSBC Securities and UBS Securities to underwrite its planned US$1.5-2 billion global, dollar-denominated bond issue

later this year. PLN chief financial officer Setio Anggoro Dewo said proceeds from the debt sale would be used to help fund its capital ex-penditures, which have been set at US$7.7 billion this year and US$36 billion over the next five years. The money will fund new power plants and transmission lines that will raise PLN’s gener-ating capacity by 23,500 MW to a total of 55,500 MW by 2019. As of the first quarter, the state util-ity reported US$5.1 billion in rev-enues, comprising US$3 billion in electricity sales and US$2.1 billion in government subsidies. This compares to revenues of US$4.2 billion (US$2.8 billion in electricity sales and US$1.4 bil-lion in government subsidies) in Q1 2010. PLN’s after-tax profits for the first quarter of this year to-taled US$330 million, compared to US$337 million for the same period in 2010.

Engineering firm Thiess Contractors Indonesia has signed amended concession agreements with toll road regulator BBJT to develop three toll road projects worth Rp11.2 trillion.

The three projects are the 90-km Solo-Mantingan-Ngawi toll road in Central Java; the 87-km Ngawi-Kerosono toll road in Cen-tral Java; and the 10-km Ser-pong-Cinere toll road in West Java. The concessions are for a 35-year period. Under the terms of the deal, the government will bear all costs for land acquisition, estimated at Rp1.9 trillion for the Solo-Mantingan-Ngawi project;

Rp1.3 trillion for the Ngawi-Kerto-sono project and Rp600 billion for the Serpong-Cinere project. The government will also provide an additional Rp3 trillion to support construction of the Solo-Mantin-gan-Ngawi and Ngawi-Kertosono projects. As part of the agree-ment, Thiess has provided a secu-rity deposit of Rp112 billion for the three projects and will be required to secure financing for the proj-ects within eight months. Depu-ty public works minister Herman-to Dardak said he expects the three toll roads to start operating by 2014.

Independent telecom tower operator Tower Bersama Infrastructure will acquire 4,000 towers from Indosat in a US$500 million deal.

Tower Bersama currently has over 3,370 telecommunications sites

serving more than 5,000 tenants. Last month the firm also pur-chased private tower operator Mi-trayasa Sarana Informasi, which operates 263 telecom towers and 332 shelter-only sites with a total of 672 tenants. The latest acqui-sition would make Tower Bersa-ma one of the largest tower op-erators in the country. The deal, meanwhile, would leave Indosat with around 13,000 telecom tow-ers. Indosat is reportedly looking to sell another 10,000 towers later this year. Tower Bersama is con-trolled by Saratoga Capital, which is owned by businessmen Sand-iaga Uno and Edwin Soeryadja-ya. Indosat is controlled by Qatar Telecom.

U.K. Oil and gas firm Salamander Energy has secured a 20-year gas sales agreement with state power utility PLN

from its Karendan field in the

Bangkanai production sharing contract in Central Kalimantan. Under the deal, Salamander will supply up to 20 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas at an initial price of US$4.79/mscf that will increase by 3% every three years. First gas from Karen-dan is expected in mid-2013. The gas will be used for a power plant PLN plans to build adjacent to the field. Salamander chief execu-tive James Menzies said the deal with PLN provided significant val-ue, allowing the firm to extend its production sharing contract and further develop Karendan. He said the field also holds another 111 billion cubic feet of gas that has yet to be commercialized, giv-ing Salamander the opportunity to build a niche position supply-ing Kalimantan’s growing domes-tic gas market.

India’s Universal Crescent Power has signed a deal with coal miner Bayan Resources to purchase 100 million tons of coal over the next 15 years

starting in 2015. Bayan chief fi-nancial officer Alastair McLeod said under the agreement, pric-ing would be indexed to Newcas-tle coal prices and would vary monthly. He said the deal would support the miner’s expansion over the long-term. Bayan, Indo-nesia’s eighth-largest coal produc-er, is looking to increase output to 25 million tons per year by 2013 from its mines in Kalimantan. The miner is projected to produce around 14 million tons of coal this year. Universal Crescent is buy-ing the coal for several power proj-ects currently under development in India. The company also has contracts to purchase coal from Bumi Resources and Noble Re-sources.

Automobile financier Astra Sedaya Finance has secured a three-year, US$200 million dollar-denominated loan from an international bank syndicate led by HSBC.

The bank syndicate comprised 19 banks including lenders from

Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Company president direc-tor Djony Bunarto Tjondro said the funds would be used to sup-port the firm’s credit expansion. As of end-May, Astra Sedaya has extended Rp9 trillion in new fi-nancing to fund the purchase or leasing of more than 63,000 ve-hicles. This is up around 11% from the year-earlier period. The company is projecting Rp20 tril-lion in new financing for the full year. Astra Sedaya is a subsidiary of automotive conglomerate Astra International.

The Para Group has acquired Detik.Com, Indonesia’s most popular online news portal.

The deal was reportedly worth US$60 million. Detik.com will be operating under Trans Corp., which is Para’s holding for free-to-air broadcasters TransTV and TV7. The group sees the acquisi-tion as providing synergies in ad-vertising, content and branding across its media assets, in addi-tion to a solid revenue stream. Strong advertising income has reportedly enabled Detik.com to generate revenue growth of 30-40% per year over the past five years. The firm is reportedly pro-jecting revenues of nearly US$20 million this year. The Para Group follows in the footsteps of other media conglomerates to establish a presence in the internet media space. Hary Tanoesoedibjo’s Me-dia Nusantara Citra (RCTI, Global TV and MNC TV) currently oper-ates online news portal Okezone.com, while the Bakrie Group runs Vivanews.com. The Para Group is owned by business tycoon Chairul Tanjung.

Bank International Indonesia (BII) has acquired an additional 12% stake in motorcycle financier Wahana Ottomitra Multiartha in a Rp125 billion deal.

The bank purchased the shares from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), bringing its to-tal stake in Wahana Ottomitra to 62%. BII director Rita Miras-ari said the acquisition was part of the bank’s aggressive growth strategy in consumer financing. Wahana Ottomitra is the coun-

Selected Instant Indicators

Business Highlights are contributed to The President Post by CASTLEASIA/PT Jasa Cita from information supplied to members of their CEO Forum, the Indonesia Country Program. They are reprinted here with permission. For more information about CASTLEASIA programs, please contact Juliette or Wijayanti at 62 21 572 7321 or email castle@castleasia.com subject CEO Forum

try’s third-largest motorcycle financier, operating more than 200 branches across the archi-pelago. The company is project-ing Rp7.5-8 trillion in new fi-nancing this year. It also plans to open 20-30 new branches this year. The IFC is the invest-ment arm of the World Bank.

Leading Japanese brokerage SBI Securities has finalized a deal to acquire a 25% stake in BNI Securities for Rp114 billion.

Taro Izuchi, president director of SBI Securities, said the ac-quisition would enable the firm to expand into Indonesia’s fast growing capital markets amid growing interest from Japa-nese retail investors for Indo-nesian stocks and bonds. The chief executive said SBI Securi-ties would also help finance the expansion of BNI Securities in Indonesia and provide it access to Japanese clients looking to invest in the country’s capital markets. BNI Securities pres-ident director Jimmy Nyo said the divestment was a strategic move to expand the firm’s cli-ent base and secure the tech-nological and human resourc-es support needed to expand its operations, particularly into online and retail equities trad-ing. SBI Securities is Japan’s largest online and retail broker. State-controlled Bank Nega-ra Indonesia (BNI), Indonesia’s third-largest lender, will retain a 65% stake in BNI Securities following the divestment.

Photo EssayThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011B8

“Bengkel cat duco”, as they are commonly called here, have their

names plastered visibly on wood-en signposts that stand erect on the side of the streets. Unlike or-dinary garages, they don’t offer engine repair service; they only repair dent vehicle body and re-painting. They also provide weld-ing services, windshield installa-tion, and sell paints and vehicle accessories.

Equipped with compressors, sprays, sandpapers, putty, paints, plasters, and other necessary tools, the street mechanics are ready to operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., some even still offer their services until the night falls.

Every day, cars always come for repair and paint work. The me-chanics work on the side of the roads, ignoring the fact that they are public spaces and that their activities often cause traffic con-gestions, especially during rush hours. Thus, the mechanics of-ten have to hide from Satpol PP who try to get them off the streets. Despite frequent raids, dozens of these illegal street garages still ex-ist and continue to grow in num-bers. They not only operate in

the main streets in Kramat Raya Senen, but also in Gang Kwitang, Central Jakarta.

They usually charge their cus-tomers based on the extent of damages that they fixed. For in-stance, they would charge a cus-tomer for about Rp500,000 for reparation of the front and rear bumpers that use medium qual-ity materials. But such tariff can usually still be bargained and lowered to about Rp300,000-400,000, depending on the level of difficulty of the work.

Each month they make about Rp7 million in turnovers provided that they repair or dress at least two cars per day on average. They usually see their incomes increas-ing sharply ahead of and post Idul Fitri. Customers want to make their vehicles look flawless when they visit their relatives in their hometowns. They usually also polish their cars again after the holiday is over.

It is no doubt that their service charge are much lower than that charged by authorized garages while their services are also much faster.

However, when it comes to quality, only the customers them-selves can decide whether or not they will go for express services, lower fees or for quality.

Business Prospects of“Bengkel Cat Duco”Car body painting business has thrived in the capital city as the number of shops offering the service continues to grow like mushrooms. Their consumers are car owners who want to turn their cars shiny through express services and at the same time at more affordable rates.

When it comes to quality, only the

customers themselves can decide whether

or not they will go for express services, lower

fees or for quality.

Equipped with compressors, sprays, sandpapers, putty, paints, plasters, and other necessary tools, the street mechanics are ready to operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., some even still offer their services until the night falls.

The President Post

Features CSECTION

www.thepresidentpost.comDisplay until August 12, 2011 /// N0. 26

Does Cultural Cen-tre sounds bor-ing to you? I bet your first picture of cultural cen-ter is a room filled

with books and decorated by a certain country’s attributes. That picture will change once you en-ter @America. It is the first high technology cultural centre in the world. @America is also called Public Outreach Diplomacy Cen-tre because, unlike any other cul-tural centre, @America doesn’t only provide info about America; it also features many great events that could be useful or entertain-ing to Indonesian youngsters. The place is designed for Indonesian youngsters to explore, experience, and express their interests in the U.S.

The sense of high technology in this place could be easily sensed by the blue lights at the front door. You might think, “hmm, how much should I pay to enter this place?” since it looks more like a club instead of a cultural cen-tre. But don’t worry about pay-ing cover charge. They will not charge you for anything here, in-cluding for the use of the facili-ties they have inside—it’s all free! Once you enter the door, you will be welcomed by security checking area, complete with their metal detectors—security equipments that we usually find in any inter-national airport. Although the se-curity check is tight enough, the blue lights around the area and the see-through lockers made by fiberglass won’t give you any oth-er feelings but amazement. Once you pass the security area, you will find a wide space of room filled with touch screens and flat screens, complete with the sound of American music everywhere. There, you can get lots of informa-tion about America. The content of the screens will be changed regu-larly according to the theme. The way they package information into simple slide shows in high technology devices allows visitors to read and pick information they need. The screens make the infor-mation displayed a lot more inter-esting and make it easier for you

to remember. @America is not only about cool

blue lights and touch screens. As a paperless cultural centre, they have changed the old-fashioned li-brary system into e-books and iP-ad’s application. Now, this is what I call the right kind of encourage-ment for those who don’t like to read. E-books and applications in their iPads make reading be-come so much more exciting. Bet-ter, those iPads could be used for free. All you need to do is register yourself in the member booth and show your valid ID card. You will easily find Member Booth in the exhibition area bathed with hal-ogen lights and numerous iPads hanging on the wall.

Another high technology device that you can find in the exhibition area is Google Liquid Galaxy. This

open every day; during weekdays they’re available at 5pm-9 pm while during weekends 11am-9-pm. Here you can get informa-tion about education in the U.S. You can ask anything the coun-selor anything such as scholar-ship programs, the education sys-tem and many more, including consultation on your interest in a specific field.

Right across the Education Cor-ner there’s a hallway that leads you to a classroom. Still with the touch screens and flat screens, but here you can read your iPad peacefully. In a regular day, this area is usually quite empty but filled with comfortable bean-bag couches. The classroom area is the very right spot to enjoy using

your iPad. True to its name, the classroom area is usually used for small lectures or conversation class, which are held regularly. In-stead of a regular white board you have in your college classroom, this one has a wide touch screen board connected right away to the internet. This device helps the classroom become more condu-cive for lectures.

After exploring the Exhibition and Classroom areas, it’s time for fun. Go to the Performance area, where big events are held. You will see a theatrical stage with semi-theatrical seats. I call it semi-the-atrical seats because it’s shaped like those seats you find in a the-ater. But instead of luxurious leather, this one is made of green

carpet. The unique seats are even more comfortable as you can sit down in whatever sitting position you choose. You will also see a wide projector screen like the one you find in a cinema. Right on the right side of the screen you will see a Cisco screen, which is used for teleconferences with people in the U.S. In the Performance Area you will be indulged by laser and colored lights and upbeat music controlled by the TJ booth people. If you want to take a peek at the TJ booth, you will find high-tech audio and visual equipment. The equipment make the events they hold become even more enjoyable.

You must be imagining how fancy this place is and think-ing how much the U.S. Embas-sy had spent to get this off the

The First Hi-techCultural Centre in the World

By Aqasha

@America doesn’t only provide info about America; it also features many great events that could be useful or entertaining to Indonesian youngsters. The place is designed for Indonesian youngsters to explore, experience, and express their interests in the U.S.

ground. Yes, this property is quite pricey but is worth it since some 300 people visit the site every day. The goal of the U.S. Embas-sy in building this place is to at-tract as many Indonesian young-sters to visit and to let them know

that America welcomes them in more ways than one. After just six months of operation, @Amer-ica has become the place for cre-ative public diplomacy, engaging young Indonesians on issues of strategic importance to America. Since its opening on December 2, 2010, almost 44,000 young Indo-nesians have visited @america to either participate in one of the 271 programs that have taken place, receive educational advising from the EducationUSA advisor on site, or learn more about American history, culture, and society.

During the first six months of operation, @america has trans-formed public diplomacy for the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, reach-ing an audiences it had never reached before and engaged them in dialogues about the United States and U.S. policy. In the fu-ture, the U.S. Embassy is focused on attracting even more young In-donesians to @america through innovative programming and bet-ter interactive contents on iPads, touch screen computers, and monitors. The U.S. Embassy also plans to reach Indonesians out-side of Jakarta by integrating their constituent posts in Medan and Surabaya in @america program-ming and working closely with partner institutions like Ameri-can Corners and Indonesian uni-versities to broaden the scope of @america virtual visitors.

On a sunny afternoon at a coffee shop in Banda Aceh city, Aceh province, four men were engrossed in a lively discussion while another man sitting next to them smiles sipping a cup of black coffee. In front of the four gentle-men lay four small plates of tra-ditional cakes made from sticky rice, namely timpan and onde-onde. That s a scene one usually finds when visiting a joint named Mecca s Terrace, Aceh province.

The local people has a long tra-dition of drinking coffee. Luck-ily, the habit is supported by the region s high coffee production from hundreds of thousands of hectares of coffee plantations ex-isting in the province. Howev-er, there is increasing concern that local farmers have started to

chop down trees in the forest to open new plantations. According to them, such action was neces-sary because the soil in existing plantations is gradually losing its fertility - a condition with a neg-ative impact on the quality of the crops.

The problem is that open-ing forest areas for plantation was against the principle of na-ture conservation, nowadays a fo-cus of international attention. Re-sponding to the concern, an NGO named Conservation Internation-al (CI) Indonesia has since three years ago been introducing the "Conservation Coffee" system to coffee farmers in Takengon, Aceh Tengah district, one of the biggest exporters of Arabica coffee along with Bener Meriah district with a total production of 65 tons per year.

The term "Conservation Cof-

fee" itself refers to a system of work that allows farmers to not only improve the quality of their product but also support global efforts to save the environment. "Since 2009, CI has provided ca-pacity building trainings for cof-fee farmers in Takengon on how to use natural ingredients as fer-tilizer and the technique of cut-ting down the coffee tree s stem to boost the production of coffee fruit in the future," Publication Coordi-nator for CI Indonesia Fachruddin Mangunjaya said.

Why did CI choose coffee plan-tations in Takengon as the area of their pilot project? Located in the highland area of Gayo (1,200 me-ters above sea level), coffee from Takengon has risen to fame for its complex flavor and thick texture. In fact, according to the cupping test system introduced by Erna Knutsen since 1974, Arabica cof-fee from Takengon is categorized as good coffee graded at 86 to 90 out of 100.

"With such development, there is also a risk of deforestation ahead because coffee plantation is estimated to last for 30 years but then the soil gradually loses its fertility. That s when farmers start to open new plantation fields in the forest," Fachruddin said.

He said capacity building train-ings given to farmers in Takengon aim to intensify the quality of the soil and coffee tree in the planta-tion. "With fertile soil farmers will no longer plan to penetrate new fields to be made as plantations," he said.

Meanwhile, CI`s local project coordinator Saodah Lubis stated that apart from helping farmers improve the quality of their coffee trees, CI also encouraged farm-ers to plant inter-cropping plants such as orange, chili and shade trees to gain added values.

"Basically, coffee trees must not be directly exposed to the sun-light or else the growth may be interrupted. Previously, farmers used to plant lamtoro as shade trees but recently we introduce mahoni and sengon trees to the farmers with consideration that the latter fetch better prices," she said. She said by having inter-cropping plants in the coffee plan-tations, farmers indirectly help the government in implementing a conservation program to tack-le the negative impacts of climate change.

Many farmers have already stated their positive impression towards the "Conservation Coffee"

Coffee Helps to Conserve Aceh's Environment

By Amie Fenia Arimbi

An NGO named Conservation International (CI) Indonesia has since three years ago been introducing the "Conservation Coffee" system to coffee farmers in Takengon, Aceh Tengah district, one of the biggest exporters of Arabica coffee along with Bener Meriah district with a total production of 65 tons per year.

program conducted in Takengon. Hasbullah, a coffee farmer from Bebesen village, stated the organ-ic fertilizer system makes the cof-fee trees grow healthier and pro-duce a good quality of fruit. "I also don t have to buy chemical-based fertilizer anymore, that saves pro-duction cost," he said.

Meanwhile Primanis, a farmer from Pegasing village, said before following CI`s program, he and the other coffee farmers were used to run the plantations in a tradi-tional way. "Now after getting the knowledge about the best fertiliz-er for the coffee trees and the tech-nique to pick the fruit, I feel that the quality of coffee fruits from my plantation has improved," he said.

Recently, Aceh Province Gover-nor Irwandi Yusuf expressed his support towards the conservation program for coffee plantation in Aceh Tengah district. He said the program was relevant consider-ing that the area along with Ben-er Meriah district were the big-gest producers of Arabica coffee in plantations covering 83,000 hect-ares.

"Arabica coffee from Aceh Ten-gah is known worldwide. Apart from being proud of this achieve-ment, we must also keep develop-

The term "Conservation Coffee" refers to a system of work that allows farmers to not only improve the quality of their product but also support global efforts to save the environment.

ing the business while consider-ing the principal of conservation," he said. According to the gov-ernor, the Conservation Coffee program is closely linked to the government s target to reduce car-bon emission and tackle the nega-tive impact of climate change.

"Based on a research, one hect-are of coffee tree is able to absorb 8.07 tons of carbon per year. The number is higher than the average ability of other plants to absorb carbon, namely 1.5-3.5 tons per year. Therefore, apart from giving financial benefit to the farmers, coffee plantation also helps con-serve nature by reducing carbon toxic from the air," he said.

Arabica coffee from Aceh Tengah is known worldwide. Apart from being proud of this achievement, we must also keep developing the business while considering the principal of conservation."

Irwandi YusufAceh Province Governor

is the 3D visualization of Google Earth with 8 big flat screens, a cir-cular toggle and a touch screen. Google Liquid Galaxy allows you to crawl anywhere around the Earth, the Moon and the Mars. There are only four Google Liquid Galaxys in the world—three in the United States and one in @Amer-ica. To make it more special, the only Google Liquid Galaxy that is open for public use is only in @America. Big screens and the cir-cular toggle could make you feel like you really are flying around the world!

You also can find an education counselor from AMINEF right be-side the Member Booth in the Ex-hibition Area. This booth is called “Education Corner”. They are

Another high technology device that you can find in the exhibition area is Google Liquid Galaxy. This is the 3D visualization of Google Earth with 8 big flat screens, a circular toggle and a touch screen. Google Liquid Galaxy allows you to crawl anywhere around the Earth, the Moon and the Mars. There are only four Google Liquid Galaxys in the world—three in the United States and one in @america.

Photos courtesy of @america

TechnologyThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011C2

1. Digital Campaign Award: Magnum Launching

2. Web Award, with winners in each sub-category:

Product/consumer: Ngomik.com

E-commerce: Kampungpulsa.com

News/entertainment: Fimela.com

Corporate: Telkomsel

Social Media: Filmoo.com

Game: Football Saga

Utility: Pricearea.com

Education: Indonesiabercerita.org

Government: Babelprov.go.id

Culture & Tourism: Infobackpacker.com

3. Mobile App Award: Bouncity

4. Digital Talent Award for each sub-category:

Digital Business Leader: Agung Adiprasetyo, CEO of Kompas Gramedia

Digital Influencers: Adrie Subono, Java Musikindo

Digital Community Leader: Ainun Chomsun, AkademiBerbagi

5 Digital Marketing Plan for Startup: Rockto.com

An expansion of Bubu Awards, this year’s IDBYTE WAS held on July 11-14 at the Ritz-Carlton, Pacif-ic Place, Jakarta,

it also includes the event Bubu Awards V.07 as the grand finale.

IDBYTE features top global speakers in the digital industry, including Facebook, Google, Ya-hoo, Ebay, RIM and LinkedIn.

After a series of events and road shows to major cities and cam-puses in Indonesia, followed by a three-day workshop as well as seminars, on the last day it closed off with the announcement of the winners of Bubu Awards v.07.

Shinta W. Dhanuwardoyo, the IDBYTE chairwoman, in her speech said that the number of participants for the workshop that ran on July 11 to 13 reached

1,500, while for the seminar the number approached 1,000, fea-turing 28 speakers.

“Through Bubu Awards, we want to continue our commit-ment to seek new talents and give awards to those who have contrib-

Bubu Awards v.07 2011The Competition to Develop Digital Industry in Indonesia

namely Alec Ross (Senior Advi-sor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), Craig New-mark (founder of Craiglist.com), Johan Svanstrom (VP & Manag-ing Director of Hotels.com Asia Pacific), Julian Persaud (Manag-ing Director of Google South East Asia) and RohitDadwal (Manag-ing Director of Mobile Marketing Association Asia Pacific Limited).

The national judges were An-drew Dervish (Kaskus found-er), Andy Zain (founder of Mobile Monday Indonesia), Erik Mei-jer (Deputy President Director of Bakrie Telecom), and Hasnul Su-

haimi (President Director of XL Axiata).

For tabulation, Bubu Awards v.07 partnered with Ernst and Young.

Bubu Awards started as the first and the most prestigious web design competition in Indonesia since 2001.

In 2009, Bubu Awards success-fully held the 6th iteration, enti-tled “The Rise of the Digital Era”. Continuing its success and fore-seeing a golden era for the digi-tal industry in Indonesia, they ex-panded the Bubu Awards to not only a web design competition but

IDBYTE is the biggest digital event in Indonesia, a week of engaging conference, workshop, exhibition, and Bubu Awards v.07 that covers the hottest topics in the digital industry.

uted significantly to the develop-ment of the digital industry in In-donesia,” said Shinta.

The winners in various catego-ries are on the list above.

This year’s judges were prom-inent figures in the digital world,

Through Bubu Awards, we want to continue our commitment to seek new talents and give awards to those who have contributed significantly to the development of the digital industry in Indonesia.”

also a digital competition to accel-erate the growth of Internet and mobile marketing in Indonesia. It was intended to be a strong trig-ger for the growth of the Indone-sian digital industry.

IDBYTE focuses on how to make digital an integral part of business strategy and to under-stand the unique landscape of consumer social insight, some-thing that Indonesia’s businesses just cannot afford to ignore any-more. As we know, the local on-line and mobile industries in In-donesia are growing very rapidly. The user base keeps multiplying at lightning speed. Already con-sidered as one of the most emerg-ing digital markets in the world, Indonesia is now ready to secure a center spot in the map of the dig-ital world.

At IDBYTE, the entire industry stakeholders are given a chance to connect together under one roof; from brand marketers, tech-nology providers, digital agencies and experts, online portals to tra-ditional business owners wishing to embrace digital into their busi-nesses. It is a golden opportunity to discover new digital trends and technologies, as well as to network and share with top industry play-ers and big names in the digital world.

Shinta W. DhanuwardoyoIDBYTE Chairwoman

www.chip.co.idwww.vivanews.com

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com July 12, 2011 C3

Education

regard it as a measure of our re-spect for the recipient, and a rec-ognition of their role and contribu-tion – past, present and future – to the advancement of the University in a particular field – in this case Indonesian studies.

“Indonesia is a key area of in-terest for Murdoch. Our Asia Re-search Centre is an internation-al leader in the study of East and South East Asia and is engaged in a number of research projects fo-cused on Indonesia.

“Our Chair of South East Asian

Murdoch University Awards HonoraryProfessorship to RI Ambassador

Murdoch University has awarded an Honorary

Professorship to His Excellency Primo Alui

Joelianto, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia

to Australia.

The symbolic award is in recognition of the Am-bassador’s commitment to Australian-Indone-sian relations and his

support of the University’s work in Indonesian teaching and re-search. To mark the appoint-ment, Joelianto gave a public ad-dress, Indonesia’s Foreign Policy and Indonesia-Australia Bilater-al Relations, at the university on 21 July.

Joelianto is a distinguished diplomat, having served previ-

ously in the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Director-General for Asia Pacific and Africa Affairs, and as Director both for East Asia and Pacific Affairs and for Middle East Affairs. Since his appointment as Ambassador in Canberra in March 2009, he has worked tirelessly to advance Aus-tralian-Indonesian relations.

Professor Gary Martin, Vice Chancellor of Murdoch University, said: “The appointment of Honor-ary Professor is offered rarely. We

In its bid to become a “World Class University”, President University has formed part-nerships with more than 500 organizations such as private companies, government bod-ies and universities from In-donesia and abroad.

Recently, President Univer-sity conducted 2 (two) collab-orations) with Parahyangan Catholic University and the Indonesian National Police.

On June 21, 2011 Pres-ident University signed a Memorandum of Under-standing with Parahyangan Catholic University at UN-PAR campus.

The MoU signing is intended to optimize both universities’ ef-fort in achieving their vision and mission. The scopes of cooper-ation to be conducted are facul-ty assistance program, student internship program, cooperative research programs and mentor-ing program for courses accredi-tation.

The occasion was attended by PU’s Rector, Prof. Dr. Erma-ya Suradinata, accompanied by Vice Rector I and II, and Head of Academic Development Bureau, while Parahyangan Catholic Uni-versity was represented by its Rec-tor, Dr. Cecilia Lauw Jade Swan, and its academicians.

Another agreement signing was with Polres Bekasi on July 1, 2011, to coincide with the Bhayangkara Day, the anniver-sary day of the Indonesian Po-lice.

This cooperation is intended to establish mutually beneficial relationship and provide bene-fits and common interest in the implementation, enhancement and development of each party. The scope of cooperation is edu-cational or training activities, re-search and community service in the field of law and security. The MoU signing was conducted by Setija Junianta and Prof. Dr. Er-maya Suradinata.

President University in Joint Coop with UNPAR and Polres Bekasi

Studies, Professor David T Hill, is also Consortium Director and Founder of ACICIS, the Austra-lian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies, which devel-ops and coordinates study pro-grams at Indonesian partner uni-versities for Australian university students.

“In addition, Professor Hill is on the Board of the Australia Indone-sia Institute and was the driving force behind this year’s highly-successful National Colloquium

on the Future of Indonesian in Australian Universities.

“We are therefore delighted to offer this honorary position to Mr Joelianto, who has been a strong supporter of our activities in this area. It is our hope that this ap-pointment will further strengthen the links between Murdoch Uni-versity and Indonesia.”

Joelianto’s public address was given in the Kim E Beazley Lec-ture Theatre at Murdoch’s South Street Campus on 21 July. His Excellency Primo Alui Joelianto

This cooperation is intended to establish mutually beneficial relationship and provide benefits and common interest in the implementation, enhancement and development of each party.

3

Culture-TourismThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011C4

A number of tourist objects in West Lam-pung have been pre-pared to attract as many holiday mak-ers as possible.

Local culture and tourism of-fice chief for promotion section Ri-ady Andrianto said here last week that West Lampung has so far been always ready to welcome the tourists but this year would at-tract even more holiday makers.

Riady said a number of tour-ists objects in West Lampung dis-trict have increased their workers to give an optimum service, sense of comfort and security to the visitors. According to him, West Lampung district in the near fu-ture would lure as many tourists as possible to visit the resort. Ri-ady also said Tanjung Setia tour-ism object has natural panoram-ic view and challenging waves for foreign tourists to go surfing. He added that the coolness and crystal clear sea water at Tan-jung Setia also offered additional attraction for the foreign holiday makers.

Besides Tanjung Setia, West Lampung also has other tourists objects such as Labuhan Jakung Beach, Pulau Pisang, Lake Ranau, Way Besai rafting resort, and Sekura Cakak Buah cultur-al festival. Riady said that in 2010,

more than 400,000 tourists visit-ed West Lampung tourism objects and 10,000 of them were from Australia, New Zealand, the Unit-ed States, and other Asian coun-tries.

White water raftingWest Lampung district in Lam-

pung Province is offering white water rafting to both domestic and foreign tourists this year. “West Lampung has a river with good potential for rafting and therefore we offer it to both domestic and foreign tourists who love water sports,” local Culture and Tour-ism Office chief Hudaibi said here recently.

He said the swirling current of the river had a special attraction for the tourists to try their surfing courage. Hudaibi added that Way Besay river in Bumberjaya sub-district was a perfect place for the water-sports loving tourists.

“Most of the rivers here are good for water sports and adven-ture, and attract many domes-tic and foreign tourists to come to West Lampung,” Hudaibi said. He added that the local govern-ment would continue to intensify the development of the historical tourist areas at four locations in the district.

Hudaibi expressed optimism that West Lampung tourism could compete with other tour-

Lampung in Full Swingto Attract TouristsLampung province will host the 17th Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) on October 12-14, 2011 at the Novotel Hotel in the provincial capital of Bandarlampung.

Bali Island has attracted over 1.05 million foreign tourists during the first five months of 2011.

During January-May 2011, Bali received a total of 1,05 million foreign tourists, up 6.61% from 992,335 during the same period in 2010, Gede Suarsa, Chairman of the Bali Central Bureau of Statistics said here Saturday.

Most of the foreign tourists arrived at Ngurah Rai airport, Bali, by planes, and only 12,369 people came by cruisers or ships. Bali has set a target to receive 2.6 million to 2.8 million foreign tourists in 2011. In 2010, Bali was visited by 2.57 million tourists.

The number of tourists from eight countries has increased, namely from Australia (up 29.34% from 231,361 people to 275,957 people, China (4.19% from 83,535 people to 87,038 people), Malaysia (25.41% from 53,383 people to 65,950 people), South Korea (up 0.45% from 48,631 people to 48,852 people), England (up 31.74% from 30,335 to 39,963), Singapore (33.23%, from 29,862 to 39,784), France (up 8.37% from 35,264 to 38,426), Russia 25.72% from 28,518 to 35,853 people).

However, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Bali during January-May 2011 dropped 24.60% from 99,473 people in the same period in 2010, to 74,999 people this year.

Tourist arrivals from Taiwan also went down 4.87$ from 54,628 people in January-May 2010 to 52,157 people in the same period this year, Gede Suarsa said. The number of tourists from ASEAN member countries in Bali, mainly Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, in May 2011 increased to 28,819 from 20,630 in January 2011. Indonesia has set itself the target of attracting 7.7 million foreign tourists this year.

Foreign Tourist Arrival in Bali up 6.61%

ist destinations across the coun-try because the district has a lot of natural potentials such as agri-culture, plantation, and tourism.

Meanwhile, West Lampung dis-trict head Mukhlis Basri said his district could compete at national level so long as tourism was con-cerned. “I am optimistic that the great potential in West Lampung can be developed even better so that in the future this region will be able to compete to be one of national tourists destination,” Mukhlis said, adding that the lo-cal government has so far inten-sively managed the existing tour-ism assets.

He said West Lampung was still open for investors who could de-velop the tourism objects in the area.

To Host Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo 2011

In 2010 some 10,340 tourists visited Pagaralam city, S. Sumatera, head of Pagaralam tourism, art and cultural agency H Syafrudin said.

“Each year tourists come to Pagaralam in increasing number, and up to December last year their number has reached 10,340 local and foreign tourists,” he said here last week.

Most of them visited Mt Dempo tourist locations, he said, adding that local tourists reached thousands of them, and only six foreign tourists from Canada, Netherlands, UK, Australia and the United States. “A special attraction would be the flower festival in November 2011, and some other important events, including new year,” he said.

Thousands of Tourists Visit Pagaralam

Lampung province will host the 17th Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) on October 12-14, 2011 at the Novotel Hotel in the provincial capital of Bandarlam-pung.

TIME is the only contract trade show in Indonesia where Indone-sian tourism product sellers and buyers meet under a computer-ized appointment system, the di-rector of domestic promotion at the Culture and Tourism Minis-try, M. Faried said here last week.

He said TIME had been includ-ed in the regular agenda of inter-national travel mart with high transaction value. The event was last held in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara province, in 2010 when $17.5 million worth of transac-tions were signed. The figure is expected to increase by up to 20% this year.

“The holding of TIME in Lam-

pung will have a positive impact on cross-sectoral development and open the tourism potential of the province,” he said at a press briefing here last month. Meity Robot of the Indonesia Tourism Society shared Faried`s view say-ing TIME had had a positive im-pact on the development of infra-structures in the province which had hosted the event.

The head of the marketing di-vision at the Lampung provincial culture and tourism office, Siti Fajariah said the local tourism authorities were developing infra-structures to support the holding of the event in the province. “The Lampung provincial culture and tourism office will take advan-tage of the event to promote its 5 key tourist destinations. They are Mount Anak Krakatau, Tanjung Setia, Kiluan Bay, Way Kambas National Park, and Siger tower,” she said.

Tanjung Setia, one of the tourism objects in West Lampung, has natural panoramic view and challenging waves for foreign tourists to go surfing.

www.trulyindonesia.com

Bali has set a target to receive 2.6 million to 2.8 million foreign tourists in 2011. In 2010, Bali was visited by 2.57 million tourists.

Each year tourists come to Pagaralam in increasing number

1 Borobudur Golf definitely offers natural beauty as it is located in the mountainous region of

Magelang in Central Java. Lying at the altitude of some 340 meters above sea level, it provides a cool climate of 22–26 Celsius.

The golf course was re-designed by Douglas Duncanson and is managed by PT Jababeka, the largest property developer in South East Asia.

With well-planned and scheduled maintenance by skilled golf course workers, it has outstanding quality fairways as well as greens. The landscapes are truly eye-catching. The well-maintained putting green and the large ground of driving range with eight seats is a good place for any golfer to flex their muscles and fix their swing before going down the course.

Easy accessThe golf course is nestled between

two international airports, namely Semarang Airport and Yogyakarta Airport. It takes a road travel of some two hours from Semarang and 1½ hours from Yogyakarta to reach the golf course, which is located in the centre of the town of Magelang.

A 30-minute drive from the golf course brings you to the famous World Heritage Temple of Borobudur.

The town has several 3- and 4-star hotels which are only minutes’ away from the golf course.

2 The golf course is equipped with a modern club house furnished with first class amenities

that provide Western, Oriental and Indonesian culinary delights.

Friendly, good-looking and well-trained waitresses are one of our front-liners who make sure every service is rendered satisfactorily with genuine hospitality.

We offer golf tour packages which include playing golf at two different courses plus visiting historical sites of Borobudur and Prambanan Temples. City tour is optional and can easily be arranged.

3 Golf players are supplied with golf buggies and accompanied by young and charming female

caddies who are well-trained both in the knowledge of golf as well as hospitality.

As they are familiar with the characteristics of each and every 18 holes, they are very happy to give useful guide to help players score better results. Friendly smiles and helpful assistance are what golfers experience throughout their games.

Latest updateOn his last visit in mid-July 2011,

Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudoyono, the president of Republic of Indonesia, commented: “The greens of Borobudur International Golf Magelang are superb in quality.”

Three Reasons Why Golfers Must Play atBorobudur International Golf & Country Club of Magelang

Borobudur International Golf & Country Club

Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto No 1, Magelang Central Java, Indonesia

Ph: +62 293 313 758Fax: +62 293 313 757

email: marketing@borobudur-golf.comwebsite: www.borobudur-golf.com

“The greens of Borobudur

International Golf Magelang are

superb in quality.”

Mr. Susilo Bambang YudoyonoThe President of Republic of Indonesia

Borobudur Int’l Golf & Country Club

Kaliurang

Merapi Golf

Pakem

Kalasan Temple

to SoloAdi Sucipto Int’l AirportYogyakarta

Muntilan

to Parang Tritis

Magelang City

Borobudur Temple

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com July 12, 2011 C5

Travel

Lombok has retained a more natural, un-crowded and unde-veloped environment, which attract travelers who come to enjoy its

relaxed pace and the opportunity to explore the island’s unspoiled, spectacular natural beauty. The more contemporary marketing campaigns for Lombok/Sumba-wa seek to differentiate from Bali and promote the island of Lombok as a stand alone destination. The imminent opening (2011) of the new Lombok International Air-port will be a great help in this en-deavour.

An island in West Nusa Tengg-ara (Nusa Tenggara Barat or NTB) province, Lombok forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Is-lands. The Lombok Strait sepa-rates it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. The pro-vincial capital and largest city on the island is Mataram, somewhat similar in size and density with neighboring Bali and shares some cultural heritage, but is adminis-tratively part of NTB along with sparsely populated Sumbawa. It is surrounded by a number of smaller islands locally called Gili.

The island is home to some 3.16 million Indonesians (2010 census) and foyr regencies along with the provincial capital Mataram. It is divided into four regencies, North Lombok Regency, Central Lom-bok Regency, East Lombok Re-gency and West Lombok Regency.

The island’s topography is dom-inated by the centrally-locat-ed stratovolcano Mount Rinjani, which rises to 3,726 m (12,224 ft), making it the second highest volcano in Indonesia and the na-tion’s third-highest mountain. The highlands of Lombok are for-est clad and mostly undeveloped. The lowlands are highly culti-vated. Rice, soybeans, coffee, to-bacco, cotton, cinnamon, cacao, cloves, cassava, corn, coconuts, copra, bananas and vanilla are the major crops grown in the fer-tile soils of the island. The south-ern part of the island is fertile but drier, especially toward the south-ern coastline.

Lombok’s most important in-dustry is tourism. The most devel-oped of tourism area in Lombok is on the west coast of the island and centered about the township of Senggigi. Senggigi and it’s im-mediate surrounds contain the most developed tourism facilities in the coastal tourism strip that is spread along a 30-kilometer strip of the coastal road north from Ma-

taram and the nearby current air-port at Ampenan. A large number of hotels and resorts offer accom-modations ranging from budget to luxurious.

Approximately 1–5 kilometers offshore from the mainland lie the three highly popular Gili Is-lands. These are most common-ly accessed by boat from Bangsal near Pemenang, or from Senggi-gi. Recently direct fast boat servic-es have been running from Bali making a direct connection to the Gili islands. Although rapid-ly changing in character, the Gili’s still provide both a lay-back back-packer’s retreat and a high class resort destination.

Other tourist destinations in-clude Mount Rinjani and Kuta (distinctly different from Kuta, Bali) in south Lombok where surf-ing is considered some of the best in the world by leading surfing magazines. The Kuta area is also famous for its beautiful, large-ly deserted, white sand beaches. Sekotong, in southwest Lombok, is popular for its numerous and diverse scuba diving locations. The northern west coast near Tanjung has many new upmar-ket hotel and villa developments centered about the Sire and Med-ana peninsular nearby to the Gili islands and a new boating mari-na at Medana bay. These new de-velopments complement the al-ready existing 5 star resorts and a large golf course already estab-lished there.

Initially, low budget bungalows proliferated at places like the Gili islands and Kuta, Lombok on the South Coast. These tourist accom-

Lombok

destination after Bali. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Ministry of Cultural and Tourism and the regional Governor have made public statements support-ing the development of Lombok as

An “Obvious”Tourist Destination Lombok is often marketed as “an unspoiled Bali,” or “Bali’s sister island.” Only 25 miles separate the two islands. Currently, with support of the central government Lombok (and Sumbawa) are being developed as Indonesia’s second destination for international and domestic tourism.

modations were largely owned by and operated by local business entrepreneurs. Areas in close proximity to the airport, places like Sengiggi, experienced ram-pant land speculation for prime beachfront land by big business-es from outside Lombok.

Little is known about Lombok before the seventeenth century. Before this time it was made up of numerous competing and feuding petty states each of which were presided over by a Sasak ‘prince’. This disunity was taken advan-tage of by the neighbouring Bali-nese who took control of western Lombok in the early seventeenth century. The Makassarese mean-while invaded eastern Lombok from their colonies in neighbour-ing Sumbawa. The Dutch had first visited Lombok in 1674 and the Dutch East India Company concluded its first treaty with the Sasak Princess of Lombok. The Balinese had managed to take over the whole island by 1750, but Balinese infighting resulted in the island being split into four feuding Balinese kingdoms. In 1838, the Mataram kingdom brought its ri-vals under control.

The entire island was annexed to the Netherlands East Indies in 1895. The Dutch ruled over Lom-bok’s 500,000 people with a force of no more than 250 by cultivat-ing the support of the Balinese and Sasak aristocracy. While the period was one of deprivation for the Sasak, they Dutch are re-membered as liberators from Ba-linese hegemony.

In 1958, the island was incor-porated into the province of West Nusa Tenggara with Mataram becoming the provincial capital. During President Suharto’s New Order administration, Lombok experienced a degree of stability and development. The 1980s saw external developers and specula-tors instigate a nascent tourism boom.

In the 1990s the national gov-ernment in Jakarta began to take a very active role in planning for and promoting Lombok’s tourism. Large hotels provide primary em-ployment for the local population. Ancillary business, ranging from restaurants to art shops have been started by local business-men. These businesses provide secondary employment for local residents.

The years leading up to 2010 has seen a rapid revival and pro-motion of tourism recovery in the tourism industry. The number of visitors has far surpassed the pre-2000 levels. All signs indicate the long-term trend will see a steady increase in the number of visitor arrivals.

The island’s natural beauty and the customary hospitality of its residents make it an obvious tour-ist destination. The government is actively promoting both Lombok and neighboring Sumbawa as In-donesia’s number two tourism

a tourism destination and setting a goal of 1 million visitors annu-ally by the year 2012 for the com-bined destination of Lombok and Sumbawa. This has seen infra-structure improvements to the is-

land including road upgrades and the construction of a much de-layed new International airport in the islands south.

Source: Wikipedia

The island’s natural beauty and the customary hospitality of its residents make it an obvious tourist

destination.

www.wikimedia.org

www.lombok123.com

www.loverhug.com

Suze Plenkovich

Pictorial EventsThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011C6

“Etiket Hijau” (Green Etiquette)Book LaunchingMien R. Uno launched her new book entitled Etiket Hijau (Green Etiquette). The event was attended by many public figures, namely Mufida Jusuf Kalla, Chairul Tanjung, Ramli, Titiek Puspa and Anies Baswedan.

Taxt & Photos by Nandi Nanti

World Bank Economy Seminar at BKPM themed Today’s

Challenges, Future Potentials. The speakers were Gita

Wirjawan (Head of BKPM), Marie Pangestu (Minister of

Trade), Justin Yifu Lin (Chief Economist of World Bank).

Today’s Challenges, Future PotentialsWorld Bank Economy Seminar

Taxt & Photos by Nandi Nanti

IMAGINE CUP 2011

Team Hermes from Ireland were the winner of the $25,000 1st Place prize in the Software Design competition. The team de-signed a device that plugs into a car and monitors dangerous driv-ing behavior and road conditions, providing instant feedback to both the driver and the car owner.

The team’s solution uses em-bedded technology, Windows Phone 7, Bing Maps and the Win-dows Azure cloud computing plat-form to change driving habits and reduce road deaths. Team Note-Taker (United States) came 2nd and OaSys (Jordan) were 3rd.

Indonesia also participated in the event, represented by Team Gatot Kaca from Telkom Institute of Technology (IT Telkom) and ITB, Team Macara from University of Indonesia and Team DreamBend-

er from IT Telkom. Team Mac-ara had successfully entered the second round and team Dream-Bender reached the 2nd position on Windows 7 Touch category.

Microsoft unveiled a $3 million grant program at the closing ceremony for the Imagine Cup 2011. Teams from Ireland, Taiwan, Brazil, France, Poland and Korea were awarded the top prizes with the People’s Choice Award going to a team from Bangladesh.

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com July 12, 2011 C7

Living

When you’re di-agnosed with a long-term health problem – such as multiple scle-rosis, bipolar

disorder, even arthritis or back problems – the cost of your care is just one of your money worries. There’s also a threat to your earn-ing power. Should you reveal the

condition to your boss or hide it as long as possible? When your em-ployer finds out, could you fall off the promotion track? Get pushed into a dead-end position? Lose your job altogether?

There are laws to protect work-ers, but whether you are covered by them will depend on the size of your company, says Chris Kuc-zynski of the U.S. Equal Employ-

ment Opportunity Commission. So how do you keep your career and income moving in the right direction? Employment lawyers and disability advocates suggest the following strategy.

First, don’t put this offSilence is risky, because people

who are demoted or fired before speaking up usually aren’t pro-tected by the law. However, before you talk, be prepared.

The secret life of a resumeAsk your doctor what accom-

modations – reasonable changes to your work environment – may become necessary. For example, you may need ergonomic fixes in your office or a delayed start time if meds make you drowsy in the morning.

Focus on the solutions, not problems

You may not feel comfortable opening up to your immediate boss about your condition. So start by presenting your HR de-partment, or the higher-up you most trust, with a letter from your doctor that simply says you have a medical condition and that you’ll need accommodations. Your com-pany can ask for another letter stating the diagnosis, but the con-versation often doesn’t go that far.

Be as specific as possible about

When you’re diagnosed with a long-term health problem -- such as multiple sclerosis, bipolar disorder, even arthritis or back problems -- the cost of your care is just one of your money worries. There’s also a threat to your earning power. Should you reveal the condition to your boss or hide it as long as possible? When your employer finds out, could you fall off the promotion track? Get pushed into a dead-end position? Lose your job altogether?

There are laws to protect workers, but whether you are covered by them will depend on the size of your company, says Chris Kuczynski of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. So how do you keep your career and income moving in the right direction? Employment lawyers and disability advocates suggest the following strategy.

Keep Your CareerHealthy – Even IfYou’re Not

the accommodations you want and try to offer your employer more than one option. By law, compa-nies can deny any accommoda-tion that causes undue hardship. If you do end up in court, taking a cooperative approach from the start will make a good impression on a judge or jury, says East. Keep written records of all discussions.

Think about a new roleEven after granting accommo-

dations, your boss may eventual-ly decide that you can no longer do your current job.

Rather than simply accepting a lesser position, propose a new role that has clear benefits for the company. Let’s say you’re in sales but can no longer travel regular-ly to meet with clients. You might propose taking over local clients, plus adding office duties such as training.

These steps aren’t always enough. Depending on the sever-ity of your condition, you may ul-timately have to find a different kind of job at another company or go on disability. In that case, ask for severance.

Most employers don’t grant it, but when you’ve built up goodwill while managing your condition, some firms will try to help you through the transition.(Money Magazine)

The Pros and Consof Job-hopping

Just because you’re eager to leave a job doesn’t mean it’s a wise career move. That said, staying in a position that feels like the wrong fit may also hin-der your career. Not sure what to do? Instead of jumping to the wrong decision, take some time to evaluate how job-hop-ping might affect your future opportunities. Here are the pros and cons of leaving your current job for greener pas-tures.

You’ll get more targeted skillsIn some industries, quick-

ly leaving a job can help you gain more specific skills for your next gig. It’s especial-ly relevant in more technical positions, says Scott Ragu-sa, contract business presi-dent at recruiting firm Winter, Wyman. “Many highly techni-cal consultants will add neces-sary experience to a very spe-cific part of a project and then move on to the next one,” Ra-gusa says.

You’ll have a wider range of experience

Making strategic moves can also help you build expertise more quickly for a future role. For example, says John Crant, a career coach and founder of SelfRecruiter.com, “If you stra-tegically moved across three roles to add marketing, adver-tising and public relations ex-pertise to your career skill set, then you can position those choices as building the back-ground that would be most valuable for the [next] role you desire.”You may get a pay jump

“When we stay a long time at

one company, others in our field statistically move ahead of us in compensation,” Crant says. Many companies implement pay freezes or only give employees a cost-of-living raise. If you’re coming from a different company, hiring man-agers base your salary on your previous salary and may make a higher offer, he says. “You can generally get a higher adjustment to your compensation than what your annual review will give you,” he says.

It will raise questions about your skills

Lots of short stints on your ré-sumé will undoubtedly raise ques-tions about your skills and work ethic, so be prepared with expla-nations. Many employers are hes-itant to hire people who’ve held several positions for less than a year, because it shows that their skills were not a match for sev-eral companies. Especially dur-ing non-recessionary times, job-hopping can raise a red flag. “You may be looked at as damaged goods,” Crant says.

Employers may question stability“Job-hopping without a clear

plan in place can be perceived as a ‘difficult-to-keep employee’ and some employers will not want to hire them for their next short

hop,” Ragusa says. This can be especially difficult in some large companies that place a higher value on job stability.

More importantly, some em-ployers may go with a person who has previously held long-term po-sitions, Crant says. “Though you may be the ‘right one,’ companies will oftentimes choose the individ-ual that seems to offer the better return on their hiring investment – the person that will stay with them contributing for the longer term,” he says.

Even if you’ve had a few short stints, it’s important to under-stand what employers are looking for in successful hires and be able to provide explanations for your experience, Crant says. Ideally, employers would like someone to stay for at least two years to really learn the ropes and about four to seven years to make it profitable for the company, he says.

As you search for your next move, be sure to understand their view and focus on other achieve-ments. “If you’ve had several quick moves, be ready to explain the reasons why those moves oc-curred, and make sure this em-ployer knows that you are looking for the right career home with this move,” Crant says.(CareerBuilder.com)

Tips and Tricks for Savingon Travel This Summer

After years of scrimping and saving and digging out of debt, I can at last afford to let loose a lit-tle and enjoy myself. For me, that means travel. Like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, I want to shake the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and see the world. But still, it ain’t cheap.

In fact, it can be downright ex-pensive. My wife and I have done a couple of organized tours al-ready, and the cost makes my fru-gal heart break. So what’s a pen-ny pincher to do?

Well, this penny pincher has spent the past few months getting a crash-course in finding the best deals on lodging and airfare. Here are some handy web tools I’ve un-covered.

TravelAir Ninja lets you find flights

on low-cost airlines around the world. It’ll also hook you up with traditional travel aggregation tools such as Kayak, Orbitz, and Expe-dia. It’s worth checking every air-fare tool you can find. I just bought a one-way ticket to London for Au-gust. While every other site want-ed to charge me $1,400 or more, I found the identical flight for less than $900 on Airfare.com.

Airfare Watchdog is a fun site for flexible fliers. Enter the cit-ies you want to travel to and/or from, and Airfare Watchdog will send you email updates about the cheapest available flights. (The site also lists its top 50 fares, topped at the moment by an $18 round-trip ticket between Las Ve-gas and Los Angeles.)

One last tip for air travel: When you book your flight, visit SeatG-uru, which offers layouts of hun-dreds of aircraft from different airlines. Want more legroom? A power outlet? Someplace far from the toilets? SeatGuru can help you find the perfect seat on your next trip.

LodgingOnce you reach your destina-

tion, you’ll need a place to stay. Veteran traveler Chris Guillebeau (who is trying to visit every coun-try in the world by the time he turns 35) says Priceline is a good source for discounted hotel rooms

but notes the site doesn’t dis-close minimum successful bids. Guillebeau says you can often get around this by searching Google for “Priceline winning hotel bids” to locate sites that list this info.

If you don’t need pampering, consider staying in a hostel. Hos-tels offer budget-priced accommo-dation for independent travelers. Rooms are generally dormitory-style, but many hostels also have a few single or double rooms avail-able. For my upcoming trip to London, I’ve been browsing the listings at Hostel World and Hos-tel Bookers, two sites that provide hostel ratings, reviews, and more. (In my searches, Hostel Book-ers usually had the better prices.) Travel-planning site BootsnAll also provides a hostel search, as well as tools for finding flights and hotels.

TipsHere are a handful of other sites

that provide useful info for travel-ers:

The U.S. Department of State •publishes a list of tips for travel-ing abroad. I plan to review this

site before each trip and to carry the URL with me as I go. If something goes awry, I want quick access to the in-formation.Jodi Ettenberg at Legal No-•mads has compiled her own list of tips and resources for world travel, including help-ful hints on how to stay healthy while on the road. Her info is useful for trav-elers of all stripes, whether you’re planning a two-week vacation in Paris or a two-year round-the-world odys-sey.If you have a travel question, •visit Flyertalk. The forums there are filled with experi-enced travelers, and you can pick up free advice on your itinerary or travel issue.Finally, at Fluent in 3 •Months, Benny Lewis shares tips for learning lan-guages quickly. Lewis sells a Language Hacking Guide if you’re serious about learn-ing, but his site offers tons of tips for just getting by. In-spired by his methods, I’ve begun to learn Spanish.

Using these tools and re-sources, I’m all set. I’ve booked a flight to England in Au-gust and am eyeing Ecuador in October. If all goes accord-ing to plan, I’ll spend a part of my summer hiking Hadrian’s wall. And in the fall, I’ll find a hostel room waiting for me in Quito. I’m eager to practice my (poor) Spanish with the locals and to make my way to the Galapagos to look at the giant tortoises.

By J.D. Roth

If you don’t need pampering, consider staying in a hostel. Hostels offer budget-priced accommodation for independent travelers.

HealthThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comJuly 12, 2011C8

Although we’ve been hearing for years that people of par-ticular races are at higher risk for cer-tain illnesses, per-

sonalized medicine will (in theory) make better predictions based on actual genetic makeup. And even now, race is less relevant to your own health care than you might think.

But doctors say a patient’s cul-ture – the collection of norms, goals, attitudes, values and be-liefs – will always be important to health care, no matter how so-phisticated genetic technology gets.

When it comes down to it, there’s no clear-cut way of saying that one person “belongs” to one race or another – in fact, a person who has the skin color and hair type typical of one race may self-identify in a completely different way.

Race’s importance may be fad-ing in medicine, but scientists have identified many associations among particular groups, such as these:

In India, one in 25 people has a •genetic mutation that increases the risk of heart diseasePeople of Ashkenazi Jewish •

descent are at higher risk for Crohn’s disease, Gaucher’s dis-ease, Tay-Sachs, colon cancer and certain types of breast can-cer, which have all been tied to specific genetic mutationsAfrican-American adults are •40% more likely to have high blood pressure than non-His-panic whitesAfrican-American men had a •30% greater chance of dying from heart disease, compared with non-Hispanic white men, in 2007 And if you think that race comes from location-based populations, many Americans don’t have a “pure” genetic heri-

tage from only one world region. In fact, 9 million Americans identified as multiracial on the most recent census, so it’s hard to make these distinctions.

You probably have genes that came from several groups of an-cestral communities. Based on archaeological evidence, every-one’s earliest ancestors came from Africa more than 2 million years ago, so we’re all descended from the same “race” anyway.

For decades, doctors thought that sickle cell disease was exclu-sively African, but some people of Mediterranean and Indian origin

Medicine Advancing

BEYOND RACENo matter what race you consider yourself to be, you have a unique genetic makeup. That’s why, as technology improves and researchers explore new implications of the human genome, medicine is going to become more individually tailored in a model called personalized medicine.

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN also have the genetic trait. We now know that the genetic trait for sickle cell disease protects against malaria, and that it is found among people with an-cestry in places where malar-ia is, or used to be found, bi-ologists Marcus Feldman and Richard Lewontin point out in their essay “Race, Ancestry, and Medicine.”

African-American life expec-tancy at birth is on average, about five fewer years than white Americans, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention. But Dr. Vi-cente Navarro at Johns Hop-kins University has shown in his research that social class is a bigger driver of U.S. life ex-pectancy than race or gender. He points out in a 1990 Lancet study that the United States is the only Western developed na-tion that does not report health statistics according to class.

Race has an important role in reaching populations at risk, Hayes said. Data about African-American risk can help target screening efforts for heart disease, for instance, she said. When it comes to allocat-ing resources and focusing ef-forts on at-risk groups, race can be a useful tool, even if it is imperfect, she said.

CPR for Your BrainSoldiers in full combat gear file

into a hot, deafeningly loud, and dark room. Fake blood covers the floor and drips off the plastic body parts that are scattered about. Smoke and strobe lights mix with heavy metal music and the sound of recorded screams.

After weeks of behavioral ther-apy for traumatic brain injuries, the soldiers are facing this intense simulation to show that they can get back to their daily work—com-bat.

Staff Sgt. Aaron Potter is among the group of patients at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, going through this final assessment. “It’s probably the closest you can get without having the real thing. The smoke, the smells, the noises, the injuries,” Potter says after ex-iting the simulation.

In 2009 Potter was knocked unconscious when he was hit by three IEDS at once in Iraq. This is his second round of therapy at Fort Campbell, after breaking down under the stress of the room simulation the first time around.

“I really struggle with mul-titasking and getting multiple things done at one time, where as before I never really had a problem with that, Potter says. “Now there are slight problems but I am a lot better off than I was.”

When Potter came home to his wife and two sons from Iraq, his brain injury left him unable to concentrate, focus on tasks or even deal with basic chores around the house.

“Within a week or two I started to pick up on how either he didn’t understand what I was saying to him. Simple things that he nor-mally did, he couldn’t do them. He couldn’t do them or just didn’t understand how to do them,” says Tiffany, Potter’s wife.

Tiffany urged him to get help at

the base’s clinic. Neither of them realized at the time it was a brain injury. “Some of the things he was having to deal with were making it difficult for him to do his job well so it was really a time for us to come together and say hey look we can actually help, we can make a difference here,” says Dr. David Twillie, director of the Fort Campbell Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic.

Doctors at Fort Campbell have developed a new approach to treating the type of war zone brain injuries these soldiers are trying to recover from. The ad-vanced treatment relies on iden-tifying the parts of the brain that have suffered trauma, recogniz-ing the tasks the patient is hav-ing trouble with that relate to that part of the brain, and then getting to work, exercising the brain, re-generating and reenergizing spe-cific brain functions.

“The brain is a use it or lose it organ,” says Dr. Bret Logan, the executive director of Fort Camp-bell’s Warrior Resiliency and Re-covery Center. “So what you need is to continue to exercise it by making it do what it does. What we have is a brain gymnasium.”

But how do you exercise the injured parts of your brain? At Fort Campbell there are exercis-es for balance, puzzles for concen-

tration and video games to teach relaxation. It’s a treatment that doctors there say can help those suffering any type of brain injury– a sports injury, a car accident or a gun shot.

Retraining the brain, he thinks may work in treating brain disor-ders like Alzheimer’s or Parkin-son’s disease. “We believe you can and you do that be exercising the part of the brain which is respon-sible for that function,” says Lo-gan. “What we are saying is we can slow, maybe even for periods arrest the process of decline in that area of the brain.”

When it comes to changing brain and behavior he says, counsel-ing just isn’t enough.“Counseling programs, rehab are really about stopping the pattern, finding oth-er ways to deal with stress in your life and no longer using the sub-stance. But you’re still left with the brain that you’ve created over whatever period you’ve used toxic drugs,” Logan says. “If that brain is not adequate, not functioning well due to that toxicity, then re-hab will not help you with that. Then you must move on to these aggressive techniques that will al-low you to strengthen, retrain, en-ergize your brain.” (CNN)

The brain is a use it or lose it organ. So what you need is to continue to exercise it by making it do what it does. What we have is a brain gymnasium.”

www.cardi.ie